PHIL 2001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Garrett Hardin, Cesspit

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 2001
• Professor: Elisabeta Sarca

Document Summary

***this article addresses the question of how to deal with the expected growth of the human population in the twenty-first century. Garrett hardin argues that the problem of controlling human population growth has no technical solution. A morally questionable argument against the freedom to "breed. " Hardin takes as a truthful premise malthus"s (perhaps discredited) concern that population is growing exponentially as resources grow only finitely. Applying the idea of the commons, he argues that our use of. "breeding rights" is a common good, and that those who overuse their right to breed are driving us toward extinction. Thus, the only solution is to recognize that "breeding" is not a freedom or right. When society decided that robbery was not a right, we all became more free; similarly, using government administrative powers to regulate individual family decisions will make us all more free. "a finite world can support only a finite population. "