Quote

Every plausible policy must be followed by the question 'And then what?'

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
Every
Plausible
Followed
Policy
Question
Must

More quotes by Garrett Hardin

Image
Of course, a positive growth rate might be taken as evidence that a population is below its optimum.
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
Value is a relative concept: the value of each action is determined by comparing it with other possible actions.
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
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
A finite world can support only a finite population therefore, population growth must eventually equal zero.
Garrett Hardin
Image
Incommensurables cannot be compared.
Garrett Hardin
Image
A coldly rationalist individualist can deny that he has any obligation to make sacrifices for the future.
Garrett Hardin
Image
The god who is reputed to have created fleas to keep dogs from moping over their situation must also have created fundamentalists to keep rationalists from getting flabby. Let us be duly thankful for out blessings.
Garrett Hardin
Image
Thou shalt not transgress the carrying capacity
Garrett Hardin
Image
In an approximate way, the logic of commons has been understood for a long time, perhaps since the discovery of agriculture or the invention of private property in real estate.
Garrett Hardin
Image
The optimum population is, then, less than the maximum.
Garrett Hardin
Image
The social arrangements that produce responsibility are arrangements that create coercion, of some sort.
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
The only kind of coercion I recommend is mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon by the majority of the people affected.
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
Why are ecologists and environmentalists so feared and hated? This is because in part what they have to say is new to the general public, and the new is always alarming.
Garrett Hardin
Image
Continuity is at the heart of conservatism: ecology serves that heart.
Garrett Hardin
Image
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.
Garrett Hardin
Image
However, I think the major opposition to ecology has deeper roots than mere economics ecology threatens widely held values so fundamental that they must be called religious.
Garrett Hardin