Promethean Ethics

by Garrett Hardin

With wit and erudition, Garrett Hardin addresses some of the difficult ethical questions posed by a world of increasingly scarce resources. Briefly stated, the "Promethean" approach argues the necessity of weighing the good of present actions against their possible future consequences. Promethean ethics challenges every proposed action with the ecoligst's question, "And then what?"

Genres: Philosophy

84 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Garrett James Hardin was a leading and controversial ecologist from Dallas, Texas, who was most well known for his 1968 paper, The Tragedy of the Commons. 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" to sum up the "selfish gene" concept of life and evolution.