The Ostrich Factor
Our Population Myopia
Published on 29. April 1999
Book
Hardback
176 pages
978-0-19-512274-9 (ISBN)
Description
Garrett Hardin, one of the leading thinkers on the problem of overpopulation, addresses the arguments of economists about continued 'sustainable growth'. He discusses issues that are frequently avoided in most short-term considerations of population levels. This book builds upon the success of Hardin's earlier book, Living Within Limits, and seeks to lay out the practical steps that humankind must take now to ensure the long-term survival of civilization.
Reviews / Votes
"...his challenges to widely held assumptions are bound to stir the reader's thoughts..."--Scientific American"Garrett Hardin has once again turned his delightful brilliance loose on the purpose and effectiveness of government in a democracy, the protection of each from all and all from each. No one feeds the intellectual fires of ecology's role in government better than Hardin. Rich in history, ethics, etymology, Hardin specializes in breaking the manacles of history, phrase and thought that seem to condemn us to the cheapening of people and the impoverishment of
habitat through growth in human numbers. Hardin offers an exciting glimpse of ourselves at the moment and shows us all that history need not flow inevitably to chaos."--G.M. Woodwell, Director, Woods
Hole Research Center
"Sure to stimulate debate."--Booklist
"A learned, witty, and controversial book evaluating contemporary ethical assumptions regarding population planning and world population growth."--Library Journal
"With clear logic and imaginative insight, Garrett Hardin has again given us a strong helping hand in the unending task of overcoming denial of the tough issues in population, economics, and ethics."--Herman E. Daly, Professor School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
2 Zeichnungen
2 line drawings
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
365 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-512274-9 (9780195122749)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
04/1999
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€45.99
Available for download
Person
Garrett Hardin is Professor Emeritus of Human Ecology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Content
1. The Pursuit of Objectivity ; 2. Tertullian's Blessing ; 3. How to Lie with Learned Words ; 4. Foundations of Science: By Right, or By Default? ; 5. The Stormy Marriage of Economics and Ecology ; 6. Consequentialism: Nature's Morality ; 7. Natural Selection: God's Choice ; 8. Altruism ; 9. Coercion ; 10. Diseconopmies of Scale: Ostrich Myopia ; 11. The Dream of One World ; 12. Russell's Theorem ; 13. A Martian View of Malthus ; 14. Equity, Equality and Affirmative Action ; 15. Multiculturalism: For and Against ; 16. Ambivalent Value of Growth ; 17. The Extended Reach of Gresham's Law ; 18. Summary: Can Our Ostriches Find the Will?