Finding a Middle Ground

Finding a Middle Ground
(Written October 30th, 2008)

The desire to help those less fortunate than one's self should be a trait present in all people, but some people have found reasons to not support charity. Author Garret Hardin presents a case against helping the poor in an essay he dubbed “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping the Poor.” Hardin's view was that if the rich attempt to help the poor survive, both parties would end up suffering as a result. Hardin described the Earth as a 'lifeboat' adrift in the ocean, with the rich safely onboard and the poor struggling to stay above water. According to Hardin, the Earth only has enough resources to support a certain amount of it's population. If the rich help the poor by allowing them on the lifeboat, it would exceed capacity and all of the occupants would drown. Hardin completely ignores the concept of a middle ground, a means for both the rich and the poor to keep their heads above water. If the concept of a 'social mobility' is introduced to Hardin's metaphor, it would result in 'lifeboat ethics' losing much of its footing. Hardin's belief that helping the poor would only result in the mutual destruction of the poor and rich is both myopic and defeatist.
Almost half of the Earth's population is below the poverty line, the minimum level of income necessary for an adequate standard of living. The poverty line can serve as a demarcation between the 'haves' of the world, and the 'have nots.' Ever since the rise of early civilizations, there have been the rich and the poor, with little room for anyone in between. Only in relatively recent times has the emergence of a 'middle class' taken place. The middle class is a group of people with greater income than the poor but are not considered wealthy to be called 'rich'. This middle class would have difficulty finding a spot in Hardin's 'lifeboat' metaphor. If there only exist two possible positions for people to be part of; either struggling to stay alive or living comfortably, the introduction of a third party would not work. The people of the middle class often have difficulty staying above the poverty line and sometimes descend below it only to once again rise above. If these people were to be included in Hardin's metaphor, it would be in the form of people who are falling off the lifeboat or struggling to stay on. Hardin never accounts for such a concept, as it would throw his entire metaphor into question. These people would upset the delicate balance established within the 'lifeboat' metaphor, allowing for the line between the rich and the poor to become blurred.
In addition to not allowing for a middle class, Hardin's metaphor leaves no room for social mobility. “...each rich nation can be seen as a lifeboat full of comparatively rich people. In the ocean outside each lifeboat swim the poor of the world, who would like to get in, or at least to share some of the wealth... We could take them all into our boat, making a total of 150 in a boat designed for 60. The boat swamps, everyone drowns.” The wealthy of the world do not always remain so and may end up losing their position as 'lifeboat' passengers. Likewise, the poor do not always remain as such and it is possible for people to succeed in becoming wealthy. Where would these newly rich people go? The lifeboat metaphor does not allow for anyone besides those already rich to survive.
Similarly, if the countries of the world are lifeboats in an ocean, how are new countries developed or the rich able to reproduce? If there are only enough resources for a certain number of people to stay on the lifeboat and no room for any additional members, how can the rich reproduce? All of these questions serve to cast doubt on the metaphor that Hardin has established. There are too many variables for such a complex problem like world poverty for it to be changed into a simplified metaphor. Lifeboats are not designed for the sustained support of people. Lifeboats are a way of temporarily sustaining life until rescue can be acquired. Hardin's metaphor doesn't acknowledge the fact that lifeboats are only a means to an end, rather than a permanent habitat.

There are many problems with Hardin's metaphor, and they don't all involve helping the poor. Not only does the 'lifeboat' scenario not account for the middle class, social mobility, or the fact that a lifeboat is merely a stop-gap rather than a permanent solution. When the metaphor is broken down and analyzed, it becomes clear that Hardin cares less about supporting his beliefs with metaphors and more about keeping his wealth. Helping the poor should be something that is done without thinking about getting something in return. The act of giving without expecting anything in return is called charity, and Hardin does not acknowledge this.