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Garrett James Hardin (April 21, 1915 – September 14, 2003) was a leading and controversial ecologist from Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third largest city in the state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population in the United States.The city, with a population of over 1.3 million, is the main economic center of the 12-county Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex which contains 6.1 million people, and is the fourth-largest United States metropolitan area...
, who was most known for his 1968 paper, The Tragedy of the Commons
Tragedy of the commons

"The Tragedy of the Commons" is an influential article written by Garrett Hardin and first published in the journal Science in 1968....
. He is also known for Hardin's First Law of Ecology, which states "You cannot do only one thing", and used the familiar phrase "Nice guys finish last"
Leo Durocher

Leo Ernest Durocher , nicknamed Leo the Lip, was an United States infielder and manager in Major League Baseball. Upon his retirement, he ranked fifth all-time among managers with 2,009 MLB All-time Managerial wins, and second only to John McGraw in National League history....
 to sum up the "selfish gene
Gene-centered view of evolution

The gene-centered view of evolution, gene selection theory or selfish gene theory holds that natural selection acts through differential survival of competing genes, increasing the frequency of those alleles whose Phenotype effects successfully promote their own propagation....
" concept of life and evolution.

Biography
Hardin received a B.S.






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Quotations


Continuity is at the heart of conservatism : ecology serves that heart.

Filters Against Folly (1985)

Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons. Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.

Tragedy of the Commons (1968)





Encyclopedia


Garrett James Hardin (April 21, 1915 – September 14, 2003) was a leading and controversial ecologist from Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third largest city in the state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population in the United States.The city, with a population of over 1.3 million, is the main economic center of the 12-county Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex which contains 6.1 million people, and is the fourth-largest United States metropolitan area...
, who was most known for his 1968 paper, The Tragedy of the Commons
Tragedy of the commons

"The Tragedy of the Commons" is an influential article written by Garrett Hardin and first published in the journal Science in 1968....
. He is also known for Hardin's First Law of Ecology, which states "You cannot do only one thing", and used the familiar phrase "Nice guys finish last"
Leo Durocher

Leo Ernest Durocher , nicknamed Leo the Lip, was an United States infielder and manager in Major League Baseball. Upon his retirement, he ranked fifth all-time among managers with 2,009 MLB All-time Managerial wins, and second only to John McGraw in National League history....
 to sum up the "selfish gene
Gene-centered view of evolution

The gene-centered view of evolution, gene selection theory or selfish gene theory holds that natural selection acts through differential survival of competing genes, increasing the frequency of those alleles whose Phenotype effects successfully promote their own propagation....
" concept of life and evolution.

Biography


Hardin received a B.S. in zoology
Zoology

Zoology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of animals. The most common pronunciation of "zoology" is ; however, an alternative pronunciation is ....
 from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park, Chicago neighborhood of Chicago. Although an older university by the same name existed prior to its founding, the modern University of Chicago credits its founding to the oil magnate John D....
 in 1936 and a PhD in microbiology
Microbiology

Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are unicellular or cell-cluster microscopic organisms. This includes eukaryote such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes, which are bacteria and archaea....
 from Stanford University
Stanford University

Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private university research university located in Stanford, California, California, United States....
 in 1941. Moving to the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara

The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public university research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system....
 in 1946, he served there as Professor of Human Ecology from 1963 until his (nominal) retirement in 1978. End 1950s he was among the first members of the Society for General Systems Research
Society for General Systems Research

The Society for General Systems Research is a society for reseach and development of systems science, which aimed to overcoming the growing isolation of specialized disciplines....
.

A major focus of his career, and one to which he returned repeatedly, was the issue of human overpopulation
Overpopulation

Overpopulation is a condition where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. In common parlance, the term usually refers to the relationship between the world population and its environment , the Earth....
. This led to writings on controversial subjects such as abortion
Abortion

An abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death....
, which earned him criticism from the political right
Right-wing politics

In politics, right-wing, rightist and the Right are terms applied to Conservatism and reactionary positions. Originally, during the French Revolution, right-wing referred to seating arrangements in parliament; those who sat on the right supported the monarchy and aristocracy....
, and immigration
Immigration

While the movement of people has thought throughout history at various levels, modern immigration tourism are considered non-immigrants . Immigration that violates the immigration laws of the destination country is termed illegal immigration or undocumented immigration....
 and sociobiology
Sociobiology

Sociobiology is a Neo-Darwinism synthesis of scientific disciplines that attempts to explain social behavior in all species by considering the evolutionary advantages the behaviors may have....
, which earned him criticism from the political left
Left-wing politics

In politics, left-wing, leftist, and the Left are terms applied to Social progressivism and Egalitarianism positions. Originally, during the French Revolution, left-wing referred to seating arrangements in parliament; those who sat on the left opposed the monarchy and supported Political radicalism reform....
. In his essays he also tackled subjects such as conservation
Conservation ethic

Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection. Its primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the Natural environment: its forests, fishery, habitat , and biological diversity....
 and creationism
Creationism

Creationism is the religious belief that humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe were Creation myth in their original form by a deity or deities....
.

In 1994 he was one of 52 signatories on "Mainstream Science on Intelligence
Mainstream Science on Intelligence

"Mainstream Science on Intelligence" was an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal on December 13, 1994. It was written by psychology professor Linda Gottfredson, and signed by Gottfredson and 51 other professors specializing in intelligence and related fields....
", an editorial written by Linda Gottfredson
Linda Gottfredson

Linda Susanne Gottfredson is a professor of educational psychology at the University of Delaware and co-director of the Delaware-Johns Hopkins University Project for the Study of Intelligence quotient and Society....
 and published in the Wall Street Journal, which defended the findings on race and intelligence
Race and intelligence

Race and intelligence have in some cases been claimed to be correlated. Contemporary debate on this issue focuses on the nature, causes, and rectifications of ethnic group differences in intelligence test scores....
 in The Bell Curve
The Bell Curve

The Bell Curve is a controversial book, best-selling 1994 book by the late Harvard University psychologist Richard Herrnstein and American Enterprise Institute political scientist Charles Murray ....
.

Hardin and his wife Jane were both members of the Hemlock Society (now Compassion & Choices
Compassion & Choices

Compassion & Choices is a national nonprofit organization working to improve patients? rights and choices at the end of life. With approximately 40,000 supporters and 60 chapters, it is the largest organization of its kind in the United States....
), and believed in individuals choosing their own time to die. They committed suicide
Suicide

Suicide is the intentional taking of one's own life. Many dictionaries also note the metaphorical sense of "willful destruction of one's self-interest"....
 in their Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California

Santa Barbara is a city in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the only such section on the west coast, between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the sea, and having a Mediterranean climate, it is called California's "South Coast", and is also sometimes referred to...
 home in September 2003, shortly after their 62nd wedding anniversary. He was 88 and she was 81.

See also

  • Bioethics
    Bioethics

    Bioethics is the philosophical study of the ethics controversies brought about by advances in biology and medicine. Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, philosophy, and theology....
  • Commonize costs-privatize profits game
  • Lifeboat ethics
    Lifeboat ethics

    Lifeboat ethics is a metaphor for resource distribution proposed by the ecology Garrett Hardin in 1974.Hardin's metaphor describes a Lifeboat bearing 50 people, with room for ten more....
  • Multiculturalism
    Multiculturalism

    The term multiculturalism generally refer to an applied ideology of Race , culture and Ethnic group diversity within the demographics of a specified place, usually at the scale of an organization such as a school, business, neighborhood, city or nation....
  • Ratchet effect
    Ratchet effect

    The ratchet effect is the commonly observed phenomenon that some processes cannot go backwards once certain things have happened, by analogy with the mechanical ratchet that holds the spring tight as a clock is wound up....
  • Taboo
    Taboo

    A taboo is a strong social prohibition against words, objects, actions, or discussions that are considered undesirable or offensive by a group, culture, society, or community....
  • Tragedy of the commons
    Tragedy of the commons

    "The Tragedy of the Commons" is an influential article written by Garrett Hardin and first published in the journal Science in 1968....


Publications


Books

  • 1965, Nature and Man's Fate New American Library. ISBN 0-451-61170-5
  • 1972, Exploring new ethics for survival: the voyage of the spaceship Beagle Viking Press. ISBN 0-670-30268-6
  • 1973, Stalking the Wild Taboo W. Kaufmann. ISBN 0913232033
  • 1977, The Limits of Altruism: an Ecologist's view of Survival Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-33435-7
  • 1980, Promethean Ethics: Living With Death, Competition, and Triage University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-95717-4
  • 1982, Naked Emperors: Essays of a Taboo-Stalker William Kaufmann, Inc. ISBN 0-86576-032-2
  • 1985, Filters Against Folly, How to Survive despite Economists, Ecologists, and the Merely Eloquent Viking Penguin. ISBN 0-670-80410-X
  • 1993, Living Within Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509385-2
  • 1999, The Ostrich Factor: Our Population Myopia Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-512274-7


Hardin's last book The Ostrich Factor: Our Population Myopia (1999), a warning about the threat of overpopulation to the Earth's sustainable economic future, called for coercive constraints on "unqualified reproductive rights" and argued that affirmative action
Affirmative action

The term affirmative action refers to policies that take gender, race, or ethnicity into account in an attempt to promote equal opportunity. The focus of such policies ranges from employment and public contracting to educational outreach and health programs ....
 is a form of racism.

Journal articles

  • 1960. "The Competitive Exclusion Principle
    Competitive exclusion principle

    In community ecology, the competitive exclusion principle, sometimes referred to as Georgii Frantsevich Gause Law of competitive exclusion or just Gause's Law, is a theory which states that two species competition for the same resources cannot stably coexist if other ecological factors are constant....
    " in: =Science
    Science magazine

    A science magazine is a periodical publication with news, opinions and reports about science for a non-expert audience. A periodical publication for scientific experts, in contrast, is called a "scientific journal"....
     vol 131, Apr 29, pp 1292-1297.
  • 1968. "The Tragedy of the Commons
    Tragedy of the commons

    "The Tragedy of the Commons" is an influential article written by Garrett Hardin and first published in the journal Science in 1968....
    ". Science 162, 1243-1248.
  • 1969. "", in: Brookhaven Symp. Biol vol. 22, pp. 151-161.
  • 1970. "", in: California medicine Vol 112, issue 5, PP40-47
  • 1971. "Population, biology and law". Journal of Urban Law 48, 563-578.
  • 1974. in: Bioscience vol 24 issue=10 pp 561-568.
  • 1974. "Lifeboat Ethics: the Case Against Helping the Poor
    Lifeboat ethics

    Lifeboat ethics is a metaphor for resource distribution proposed by the ecology Garrett Hardin in 1974.Hardin's metaphor describes a Lifeboat bearing 50 people, with room for ten more....
    ". Psychology Today, 8, 38-43.
  • 1976. "Living with Faustian Bargain". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 32, 25-29.
  • 1980. "Ecology and the death of Providence". Zygon 15, 57-68.
  • 1982. "Discriminating altruisms". Zygon 17, 163-186.
  • 1983. "Is violence natural?" Zygon 18, 405-413.
  • 1985. "Human-ecology - the subversive, conservative science". American Zoologist 25, 469-476.
  • 1986. "Cultural carrying-capacity - a biological approach to human problems". Bioscience 36, 599-606.
  • 1994. "The Tragedy of the Unmanaged Commons". Trends in Ecology & Evolution 9, 199.
  • 1998. Extensions of "The Tragedy of the Commons". Science 280, 682-683.


Chapters in books

  • 1991. Paramount positions in ecological economics. In Costanza, R.
    Robert Costanza

    Robert Costanza is an American ecological economist and the Gund Professor of Ecological economics and Director of the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont....
     (editor) Ecological Economics: The Science and Management of Sustainability, New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231075626
  • 1991. In: R. V. Andelson, (editor), Commons Without Tragedy, London : Shepheard-Walwyn , pp. 162–185. ISBN 0389209589 (U.S.)


External links

  • - includes interviews with Hardin in text and video format