Hardin, Garrett

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HARDIN, GARRETT

Garrett James Hardin (1915–2003), born in Dallas, Texas, on April 21, was sometimes called the "father of human ecology" for his efforts to popularize a biological understanding of human beings that also draws out ethical implications. He was a strong advocate for controlling population growth and limiting immigration into the United States, because of the ecological implications of these issues. His two best-known essays, "The Tragedy of the Commons" (1968) and "Lifeboat Ethics" (1972), in their description of a problem and presentation of a response, became standard points of reference in bioethics broadly construed. Hardin died in Santa Barbara, California, on September 14.

Hardin earned a B.A. in zoology (University of Chicago, 1936) and a Ph.D. in microbiology (Stanford University, 1941). His most influential mentors were microbiologist Cornelius Bernardus van Niel (1897–1985) and Nobel Prize–winning geneticist George W. Beadle (1903–1989). In 1946 Hardin accepted an appointment in human ecology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he spent the next thirty years of his career, retiring in 1976.

In "The Tragedy of the Commons," which was first published in Science magazine and then widely reprinted, Hardin employed the historical analogy of the deterioration of common pasturelands in seventeenth-century England to explore the contemporary problems of resource utilization and environmental pollution. When a common resource such as a pasture that will support three cows in good health is available to three families, any one family is tempted to introduce a second cow, because although now all four cows will, like the pasture, be slightly less healthy, the combined value of two modestly healthy cows is greater than one healthy cow. This tendency to exploit a public good for private gain, when the gain belongs to one person but the cost is shared by all, results in the overgrazing and deterioration of the commons.

To solve this problem, personal property ownership must be introduced so that owners have an interest in maintaining the productive capacity of the land because they now share the full costs of any excessive exploitation. The general principle is that individuals will exploit anything that is free to maximize their own gain, with a cost to society. The commons cannot possibly work once the population has become too great. Hardin applied this principle to human reproduction, arguing that people who have many children are imposing a cost on society that they do not fully bear. Hardin argues that coercion is necessary to reduce reproduction of children, just as the freedom to rob a bank is curtailed by criminal law.

In "Lifeboat Ethics," Hardin argues that immigration is a major cause of population increase in the developed world, and he advocates the reduction of immigration to nearly zero. The analogy is that a lifeboat (developed nation) can hold a certain number of people. If more people (developing nation) climb into a boat that is full (to carrying capacity), the lifeboat sinks and everyone drowns. The rational course of action for those already in theboatistorefuseadditionalpassengers.

This is, Hardin admits, a "tough-love ethics" founded on the principle that Earth has a limited carrying capacity for the size of population it can accommodate. Hardin believes the optimum carrying capacity of the United States was reached in the middle of the twentieth century, and that further increases in population will degrade the quality of human life. As the number of people increases, so do pressures on the natural resource base, resulting in suffering and misery.

A further argument in Hardin's work is that multiculturalism provides another reason to reduce immigration. For Hardin, social disorder is promoted by increasing the diversity of the groups encouraged to reside in the United States: "Diversity within a nation destroys unity and leads to civil wars. Immigration, a benefit during the youth of a nation, can act as a disease in its mature state. Too much internal diversity in large nations has led to violence and disintegration" (Hardin 1993, p. 42).

Hardin's prescription for the Third World population explosion is for First World nations to cease food aid, allowing Third World nations to solve their problem of having exceeded their carrying capacity. Food aid leads to more babies being born and surviving, increasing population size, and requiring more assistance in the future. The only aid First World countries should give to the Third World is information about birth control and contraceptives. If a country is poor and powerless because of too many people, it will become even poorer and more powerless by increasing its population.

Merging biological principles with ethical considerations, Hardin argued for the responsible assessment of the environment to optimize the quality of life for present and future generations. He confronted the human condition and its intricate connection with the natural world in an effort to encourage society to effectively deal with the population-resource equation so that posterity will not be subjected to enforced processes of poverty, starvation, and social disorder.

CRAIG A. STRAUB

SEE ALSO Environmental Ethics;Population.