Hardin Lifeboat Summary

Hardin use an analogy, supplemented by appeal to both logos and pathos, to make his argument. The author describes a lifeboat with limited spots to demonstrate the need for foreign aid. Hardin effectively uses pathos in the passage to appeal to the reader’s sense of responsibility. He makes the reader feel guilty for choosing one person and not the other person. In the analogy that the author makes about the lifeboat, he also uses logos to appeal to the reader’s sense logic. He states that “[c]omplete justice, complete catastrophe” (Hardin 543). Complete justice would be to let everyone on the boat, however, letting everyone on the boat will lead to complete catastrophe because the boat will sink if too many people are on the boat. This appeal