Quote

But it is no good using the tongs of reason to pull the Fundamentalists' chestnuts out of the fire of contradiction. Their real troubles lie elsewhere.

Garrett Hardin

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Garrett Hardin
Age: 88 †
Born: 1915
Born: April 21
Died: 2003
Died: September 14
Biologist
Demographer
Ecologist
Statistician
University Teacher
Dallas
Texas
Garrett James Hardin
Garrett J. Hardin
Real
Elsewhere
Good
Contradiction
Pull
Using
Trouble
Tongs
Fire
Chestnuts
Lying
Fundamentalists
Reason
Troubles

More quotes by Garrett Hardin

Image
Economists (and others) who are satisfied with nature-free equations develop a dangerous hubris about the potency of our species
Garrett Hardin
Image
A technical solution may be defined as one that requires a change only in the techniques of the natural sciences, demanding little or nothing in the way of change in human values or ideas of morality.
Garrett Hardin
Image
Every plausible policy must be followed by the question 'And then what?'
Garrett Hardin
Image
The social arrangements that produce responsibility are arrangements that create coercion, of some sort.
Garrett Hardin
Image
We see only what we have names for.
Garrett Hardin
Image
The population problem has no technical solution it requires a fundamental extension in morality.
Garrett Hardin
Image
Incommensurables cannot be compared.
Garrett Hardin
Image
Value is a relative concept: the value of each action is determined by comparing it with other possible actions.
Garrett Hardin
Image
The greatest folly is to accept expert statements uncritically. At the very least, we should always seek another opinion.
Garrett Hardin
Image
The essence of dramatic tragedy is not unhappiness. It resides in the solemnity of the remorseless working of things.
Garrett Hardin
Image
People are the quintessential element in all technology... Once we recognize the inescapable human nexus of all technology our attitude toward the reliability problem is fundamentally changed.
Garrett Hardin
Image
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights describes the family as the natural and fundamental unit of society. It follows that any choice and decision with regard to the size of the family must irrevocably rest with the family itself, and cannot be made by anyone else.
Garrett Hardin
Image
We can't cure a shortage by increasing the supply.
Garrett Hardin
Image
Continuity is at the heart of conservatism: ecology serves that heart.
Garrett Hardin
Image
Indeed, our particular concept of private property, which deters us from exhausting the positive resources of the earth, favors pollution.
Garrett Hardin
Image
In a finite world this means that the per capita share of the world's goods must steadily decrease.
Garrett Hardin
Image
Numeracy: 1. The art of putting numbers to things, that is, assigning amounts to variables in order that practical decisions may be reach. 2. That aspect of education (beyond mere literacy) which takes account of quantitative aspects of reality.
Garrett Hardin
Image
Fundamentalists are panicked by the apparent disintegration of the family, the disappearance of certainty and the decay of morality. Fear leads them to ask, if we cannot trust the Bible, what can we trust?
Garrett Hardin
Image
Religious reasons, which is no reason. I notice Skeptic had a review of Dennett's book, Darwin's Dangerous Idea. Religious reasons amount to what Dennett terms skyhooks. Do you believe in skyhooks? I don't.
Garrett Hardin
Image
You can never do merely one thing. The law applies to any action that changes something in a complex system. The point is that an action taken to alleviate a problem will trigger several effects, some of which may offset or even negate the one intended.
Garrett Hardin