summary of thomas malthus essay on population

Malthus�s Population Principle Explained

By Frank W. Elwell

This essay is a faithful summary of Malthus�s original 1798 �Principle of Population .� While nothing will substitute for reading the original essay with an open mind, I hope this summary will go some way toward rehabilitating this man�s reputation.

T. Robert Malthus

Here is the key to that riddle: Malthus made the mistake of illustrating the unequal powers of production and reproduction with a mathematical illustration. He supposes that when unchecked, the earth�s human population would double every twenty-five years (a good estimate consistent with current knowledge). Agricultural production at best, he argues, could not possibly keep pace.

Arithmetic vs. Geometric Growth

He knows full well that population cannot grow long beyond the means of subsistence (�population must always be kept down to the means of subsistence�), he is simply trying to illustrate to his readers the unequal powers of growth in population and food production and therefore the necessity of checks on population. At one point in the Essay he even states: �I am sufficiently aware that the redundant twenty-eight millions, or seventy-seven millions, that I have mentioned, could never have existed� (63). But for various reasons many critics have taken this mental experiment as the theory of population itself and delight in writing that Malthus was wrong, that overshoot and collapse did not occur. Contrary to popular belief (and the belief of many who should know better), Malthus did not predict a future in which population would outrun food supply and eventually collapse.

Other critics write that Malthus was wrong because he did not take into account the possibility of dramatic increases in the production of food. Many criticize him for not taking into account the revolution in agriculture. But he anticipated this argument as well:

No limits whatever are placed to the productions of the earth; they may increase for ever and be greater than any assignable quantity, yet still the power of population being a power of a superior order, the increase of the human species can only be kept commensurate to the increase of the means of subsistence by the constant operation of the strong law of necessity acting as a check upon the greater power (9-10).

Food & Population

What are these checks that Malthus writes about? They are of two types: �Preventive checks� come into play through the �foresight of the difficulties attending the rearing of a family� (22). They include celibacy, contraception, and various forms of non-procreative sex. �Positive checks,� are the �actual distresses of some of the lower classes, by which they are disabled from giving the proper food and attention to their children� (22). Under this heading Malthus includes extreme poverty, diseases, plague, malnutrition, wars, infanticide, and famine. Positive checks are far more likely to operate within poor populations; preventive checks among the upper classes. In Malthus�s view, both positive and preventive checks�or the ways a people go about controlling their fertility�will greatly impact the rest of the sociocultural system.

Malthus�s principle of population is basically the law of supply and demand applied to the relationships between food production and population growth , which he makes clear time and again throughout the Essay. As the food supply increases, food becomes cheaper, and more children are brought into the world. As there are more mouths to feed, food becomes more expensive, thus causing stress on families, more children dying or steps taken to prevent conception itself. As food prices rise, more land is put under the plow, or greater efforts made in intensifying the production of the land itself.

Because people can reproduce faster than they can increase the production of food, population must always be checked through positive or preventive means. This and nothing more, is Malthus�s �Principle of Population.� Over the course of sociocultural evolution, however, the long-term tendency has been for both productivity and population to intensify. This reciprocal growth, of course, has great effect on other parts of the sociocultural system.

For a more extensive discussion of Malthus�s theories refer to Macro Social Theory by Frank W. Elwell.  Also see Sociocultural Systems: Principles of Structure and Change to learn how his insights contribute to a more complete understanding of modern societies.

summary of thomas malthus essay on population

Bibliography

Elwell, F. (2009), Macrosociology: The Study of Sociocultural Systems . Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press.

Elwell, F. (2013), Sociocultural Systems: Principles of Structure and Change. Alberta: Athabasca University Press.

Malthus, T. R. (Thomas Robert) (2012-05-12). An Essay on the Principle of Population.   Kindle Edition.

Referencing this Site

To reference Malthus's Population Principle Explained you should use the following format: 

Elwell, Frank W., 2003, "Malthus's Population Principle Explained," Retrieved August 31, 2013, [use actual date] http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theorists/Essay/Malthus1.htm 

�2013 Frank Elwell, Send comments to felwell at rsu.edu

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An Essay on the Principle of Population

By thomas robert malthus.

There are two versions of Thomas Robert Malthus’s Essay on the Principle of Population . The first, published anonymously in 1798, was so successful that Malthus soon elaborated on it under his real name. * The rewrite, culminating in the sixth edition of 1826, was a scholarly expansion and generalization of the first.Following his success with his work on population, Malthus published often from his economics position on the faculty at the East India College at Haileybury. He was not only respected in his time by contemporaneous intellectuals for his clarity of thought and willingness to focus on the evidence at hand, but he was also an engaging writer capable of presenting logical and mathematical concepts succinctly and clearly. In addition to writing principles texts and articles on timely topics such as the corn laws, he wrote in many venues summarizing his initial works on population, including a summary essay in the Encyclopædia Britannica on population.The first and sixth editions are presented on Econlib in full. Minor corrections of punctuation, obvious spelling errors, and some footnote clarifications are the only substantive changes. * Malthus’s “real name” may have been Thomas Robert Malthus, but a descendent, Nigel Malthus, reports that his family says he did not use the name Thomas and was known to friends and colleagues as Bob. See The Malthus Homepage, a site maintained by Nigel Malthus, a descendent.For more information on Malthus’s life and works, see New School Profiles: Thomas Robert Malthus and The International Society of Malthus. Lauren Landsburg

Editor, Library of Economics and Liberty

First Pub. Date

London: John Murray

6th edition

The text of this edition is in the public domain. Picture of Malthus courtesy of The Warren J. Samuels Portrait Collection at Duke University.

Table of Contents

  • Chapter III
  • Chapter VII
  • Chapter VIII
  • Chapter XII
  • Chapter XIII
  • Chapter XIV
  • Bk.II,Ch.II
  • Bk.II,Ch.III
  • Bk.II,Ch.IV
  • Bk.II,Ch.VI
  • Bk.II,Ch.VII
  • Bk.II,Ch.VIII
  • Bk.II,Ch.IX
  • Bk.II,Ch.XI, On the Fruitfulness of Marriages
  • Bk.II,Ch.XII
  • Bk.II,Ch.XIII
  • Bk.III,Ch.I
  • Bk.III,Ch.II
  • Bk.III,Ch.III
  • Bk.III,Ch.IV
  • Bk.III,Ch.V
  • Bk.III,Ch.VI
  • Bk.III,Ch.VII
  • Bk.III,Ch.VIII
  • Bk.III,Ch.IX
  • Bk.III,Ch.X
  • Bk.III,Ch.XI
  • Bk.III,Ch.XII
  • Bk.III,Ch.XIII
  • Bk.III,Ch.XIV
  • Bk.IV,Ch.II
  • Bk.IV,Ch.III
  • Bk.IV,Ch.IV
  • Bk.IV,Ch.VI
  • Bk.IV,Ch.VII
  • Bk.IV,Ch.VIII
  • Bk.IV,Ch.IX
  • Bk.IV,Ch.XI
  • Bk.IV,Ch.XII
  • Bk.IV,Ch.XIII
  • Bk.IV,Ch.XIV
  • Appendix II

Preface to the Second Edition

The Essay on the Principle of Population, which I published in 1798, was suggested, as is expressed in the preface, by a paper in Mr. Godwin’s Inquirer. It was written on the impulse of the occasion, and from the few materials which were then within my reach in a country situation. The only authors from whose writings I had deduced the principle, which formed the main argument of the Essay, were Hume, Wallace, Adam Smith, and Dr. Price; and my object was to apply it, to try the truth of those speculations on the perfectibility of man and society, which at that time excited a considerable portion of the public attention.

In the course of the discussion I was naturally led into some examination of the effects of this principle on the existing state of society. It appeared to account for much of that poverty and misery observable among the lower classes of people in every nation, and for those reiterated failures in the efforts of the higher classes to relieve them. The more I considered the subject in this point of view, the more importance it seemed to acquire; and this consideration, joined to the degree of public attention which the Essay excited, determined me to turn my leisure reading towards an historical examination of the effects of the principle of population on the past and present state of society; that, by illustrating the subject more generally, and drawing those inferences from it, in application to the actual state of things, which experience seemed to warrant, I might give it a more practical and permanent interest.

In the course of this inquiry I found that much more had been done than I had been aware of, when I first published the Essay. The poverty and misery arising from a too rapid increase of population had been distinctly seen, and the most violent remedies proposed, so long ago as the times of Plato and Aristotle. And of late years the subject has been treated in such a manner by some of the French Economists; occasionally by Montesquieu, and, among our own writers, by Dr. Franklin, Sir James Stewart, Mr. Arthur Young, and Mr. Townsend, as to create a natural surprise that it had not excited more of the public attention.

Much, however, remained yet to be done. Independently of the comparison between the increase of population and food, which had not perhaps been stated with sufficient force and precision, some of the most curious and interesting parts of the subject had been either wholly omitted or treated very slightly. Though it had been stated distinctly, that population must always be kept down to the level of the means of subsistence; yet few inquiries had been made into the various modes by which this level is effected; and the principle had never been sufficiently pursued to its consequences, nor had those practical inferences drawn from it, which a strict examination of its effects on society appears to suggest.

These therefore are the points which I have treated most in detail in the following Essay. In its present shape it may be considered as a new work, and I should probably have published it as such, omitting the few parts of the former which I have retained, but that I wished it to form a whole of itself, and not to need a continual reference to the other. On this account I trust that no apology is necessary to the purchasers of the first edition.

To those who either understood the subject before, or saw it distinctly on the perusal of the first edition, I am fearful that I shall appear to have treated some parts of it too much in detail, and to have been guilty of unnecessary repetitions. These faults have arisen partly from want of skill, and partly from intention. In drawing similar inferences from the state of society in a number of different countries, I found it very difficult to avoid some repetitions; and in those parts of the inquiry which led to conclusions different from our usual habits of thinking, it appeared to me that, with the slightest hope of producing conviction, it was necessary to present them to the reader’s mind at different times, and on different occasions. I was willing to sacrifice all pretensions to merit of composition, to the chance of making an impression on a larger class of readers.

The main principle advanced is so incontrovertible, that, if I had confined myself merely to general views, I could have intrenched myself in an impregnable fortress; and the work, in this form, would probably have had a much more masterly air. But such general views, though they may advance the cause of abstract truth, rarely tend to promote any practical good; and I thought that I should not do justice to the subject, and bring it fairly under discussion, if I refused to consider any of the consequences which appeared necessarily to flow from it, whatever these consequences might be. By pursuing this plan, however, I am aware that I have opened a door to many objections, and, probably, to much severity of criticism: but I console myself with the refection, that even the errors into which I may have fallen, by affording a handle to argument, and an additional excitement to examination, may be subservient to the important end of bringing a subject so nearly connected with the happiness of society into more general notice.

Throughout the whole of the present work I have so far differed in principle from the former, as to suppose the action of another check to population which does not come under the head either of vice or misery; and, in the latter part I have endeavoured to soften some of the harshest conclusions of the first Essay. In doing this, I hope that I have not violated the principles of just reasoning; nor expressed any opinion respecting the probable improvement of society, in which I am not borne out by the experience of the past. To those who still think that any check to population whatever would be worse than the evils which it would relieve, the conclusions of the former Essay will remain in full force; and if we adopt this opinion we shall be compelled to acknowledge, that the poverty and misery which prevail among the lower classes of society are absolutely irremediable.

I have taken as much pains as I could to avoid any errors in the facts and calculations which have been produced in the course of the work. Should any of them nevertheless turn out to be false, the reader will see that they will not materially affect the general scope of the reasoning.

From the crowd of materials which presented themselves, in illustration of the first branch of the subject, I dare not flatter myself that I have selected the best, or arranged them in the most perspicuous method. To those who take an interest in moral and political questions, I hope that the novelty and importance of the subject will compensate the imperfections of its execution.

Preface to the Fifth Edition

This Essay was first published at a period of extensive warfare, combined, from peculiar circumstances, with a most prosperous foreign commerce.

It came before the public, therefore, at a time when there would be an extraordinary demand for men, and very little disposition to suppose the possibility of any evil arising from the redundancy of population. Its success, under these disadvantages, was greater than could have been reasonably expected; and it may be presumed that it will not lose its interest, after a period of a different description has succeeded, which has in the most marked manner illustrated its principles, and confirmed its conclusions.

On account, therefore, of the nature of the subject, which, it must be allowed is one of permanent interest, as well as of the attention likely to be directed to it in future, I am bound to correct those errors of my work, of which subsequent experience and information may have convinced me, and to make such additions and alterations as appear calculated to improve it, and promote its utility.

It would have been easy to have added many further historical illustrations of the first part of the subject; but as I was unable to supply the want I once alluded to, of accounts of sufficient accuracy to ascertain what part of the natural power of increase each particular check destroys, it appeared to me that the conclusion which I had before drawn from very ample evidence of the only kind that could be obtained, would hardly receive much additional force by the accumulation of more, precisely of the same description.

In the two first books, therefore, the only additions are a new chapter on France, and one on England, chiefly in reference to facts which have occurred since the publication of the last edition.

In the third book I have given an additional chapter on the Poor-Laws; and as it appeared to me that the chapters on the Agricultural and Commercial Systems, and the Effects of increasing Wealth on the Poor, were not either so well arranged, or so immediately applicable to the main subject, as they ought to be; and as I further wished to make some alterations in the chapter on Bounties upon Exportation, and add something on the subject of Restrictions upon Importation, I have recast and rewritten the chapters which stand the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, in the present edition; and given a new title, and added two or three passages, to the 14th and last chapter of the same book.

In the fourth book I have added a new chapter to the one entitled Effects of the Knowledge of the principal Cause of Poverty on Civil Liberty; and another to the chapter on the Different Plans of improving the Poor; and I have made a considerable addition to the Appendix, in reply to some writers on the Principles of Population, whose works have appeared since the last edition.

These are the principal additions and alterations made in the present edition. They consist, in a considerable degree, of the application of the general principles of the Essay to the present state of things.

For the accommodation of the purchasers of the former editions, these additions and alterations will be published in a separate volume.

The additions to the present edition chiefly consist of some further documents and inferences relating to the state of the population in those countries, in which fresh enumerations, and registers of births, deaths and marriages, have appeared since the publication of my last edition in 1817. They refer principally to England, France, Sweden, Russia, Prussia, and America, and will be found in the chapters which treat of the population of these countries. In the chapter on the Fruitfulness of Marriages an additional table has been given, (vol. i. p. 498.) which, from the per centage increase of population in the interval between those decennial enumerations which are now taking place in some countries, shews the period of their doubling, or the rate at which they are increasing. At the end of the Appendix my reasons for not replying to the late publication of Mr. Godwin are shortly stated. In other parts of the work some inconsiderable alterations and corrections have been made which it is unnecessary to specify; and a few notes have been added, the principal of which is one on the variations in the price of corn in Holland under a free trade, and the error of supposing that the scarcity of one country is generally counterbalanced by the plenty of some other.—Vol. ii. p. 207.

Book I, Chapter II.

In my review of the different stages of society, I have been accused of not allowing sufficient weight in the prevention of population to moral restraint; but when the confined sense of the term, which I have here explained, is adverted to, I am fearful that I shall not be found to have erred much in this respect. I should be very glad to believe myself mistaken.

It should be observed, that, by an increase in the means of subsistence, is here meant such an increase as will enable the mass of the society to command more food. An increase might certainly take place, which in the actual state of a particular society would not be distributed to the lower classes, and consequently would give no stimulus to population.

Book I, Chapter III.

  • An Essay on the Principle of Population Summary

by Thomas Malthus

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Malthus observes that humans tend to like having sex, which means that inevitably (especially before modern contraceptives) humans would likely continue to make children at a constant rate. But since two people can have more than two children, and each of those children can have even more children, population growth is not arithmetical, but rather geometric.

What Malthus means by 'arithmetical' and 'geometric' is simply that some systems produce at the level of addition and subtraction, and other systems work differently. If it works by process of addition, it is arithmetical, and if it works by process of multiplication, such as population growth, it is geometric.

So Malthus concludes from that basic study of the systems of population growth that we can expect the population to double every 25 years. By the way, Malthus's mathematical analysis is understood by most people to be incorrect, but his idea is still powerful. Could humans populate at such a rate that eventually, we exhaust our resources, and what would happen if that were the case?

He then explains that he is not predicting a doomsday, or an apocalypse, but rather, that given our understanding of mathematics, humans should begin to consider their effect on the environment as an exponentially powerful animal, since our biological existence means that we must sustain ourselves by using natural resources.

Malthus continues by explaining that many of the variables in the sustainability question are fluid, such as the potential development of new technologies to advance agriculture and infrastructure. Instead of offering a creative solution, he leaves the question open for audience participation, because after all, we're all on the same planet, so overpopulation is a risk that could potentially effect the entire race if not treated with scientific attention.

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An Essay on the Principle of Population Questions and Answers

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Study Guide for An Essay on the Principle of Population

An Essay on the Principle of Population study guide contains a biography of Thomas Malthus, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

  • About An Essay on the Principle of Population
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Essays for An Essay on the Principle of Population

An Essay on the Principle of Population essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of An Essay on the Principle of Population by Thomas Malthus.

  • Malthus and Darwin: A Study of Theories and Their Adaptation

Wikipedia Entries for An Essay on the Principle of Population

  • Introduction

summary of thomas malthus essay on population

summary of thomas malthus essay on population

Part of: An Essay on the Principle of Population, 2 vols. [1826, 6th ed.] An Essay on the Principle of Population, vol. 1 [1826, 6th ed.]

  • Thomas Robert Malthus (author)

Vol. 1 of the 6th expanded edition of Essay on the Principle of Population. In this work Malthus argues that there is a disparity between the rate of growth of population (which increases geometrically) and the rate of growth of agriculture (which increases only arithmetically). He then explores how populations have historically been kept in check.

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An Essay on the Principle of Population, or a View of its Past and Present Effects on Human Happiness; with an Inquiry into our Prospects respecting the Future Removal or Mitigation of the Evils which it Occasions (London: John Murray 1826). 6th ed.

The text is in the public domain.

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A lengthy and belated reply to Malthus by the radical individualist Godwin. Whereas Malthus took a pessimistic view of the pressures of population growth, Godwin was more optimistic about the capacity of people to limit the growth of their families.

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While many liberty-loving economists are happy to correct the criticisms of Smith, many are equally happy to criticize Malthus for the Malthusian trap, not realizing that the usual portrayal of Malthus is equally false. Malthus shares far more with Smith than most expect. He is, in many ways, as…

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An Essay on the Principle of Population

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Chapter 1 summary.

An Essay on the Principle of Population begins with an appraisal of the technological discoveries that allowed for great societal changes in Malthus’s time. The pronounced advancements in the fields of natural philosophy, printing, and politics have encouraged a positive outlook on the perfectibility of humankind. Philosophers and other influential figures are fervently hooked to this topic: whereas some optimistically believe humankind may one day achieve perfection, others argue there is absolutely no escaping from “a perpetual oscillation between happiness and misery,” no matter how much growth is observed in society (1). Whereas conservative thinkers dismiss new ideas as “silly speculations,” progressives likewise believe their opponents profit too much from the abuses of society to modify their prejudiced outlooks (2). Malthus laments the lack of communication between these opposite factions and points out both are so concerned with dismissing the arguments of the other they have lost their drive to search for the truth.

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Thomas Robert Malthus summary

Thomas Robert Malthus , (born Feb. 13/14, 1766, Rookery, near Dorking, Surrey, Eng.—died Dec. 29, 1834, St. Catherine, near Bath, Somerset), British economist and demographer. Born into a prosperous family, he studied at the University of Cambridge and was elected a fellow of Jesus College in 1793. In 1798 he published An Essay on the Principle of Population , in which he argued that population will always tend to outrun the food supply—that the increase of population will take place, if unchecked, in a geometrical progression, while the means of subsistence will increase only in an arithmetical progression. He believed population would expand to the limit of subsistence and would be held there by famine, war, and ill health. He enlarged on his ideas in later editions of his work (to 1826). He argued that relief measures for the poor should be strictly limited since they tended to encourage the growth of excess population. His theories, though largely disproven, had great influence on contemporary social policy and on such economists as David Ricardo .

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  1. An Essay on the Principle of Population

    Overview. An Essay on the Principle of Population by Thomas Malthus was first published anonymously in 1798. Its core argument, that human population will inevitably outgrow its capacity to produce food, widely influenced the field of early 19th century economics and social science. Immediately after its first printing, Malthus's essay ...

  2. An Essay on the Principle of Population

    The book An Essay on the Principle of Population was first published anonymously in 1798, [1] but the author was soon identified as Thomas Robert Malthus. The book warned of future difficulties, on an interpretation of the population increasing in geometric progression (so as to double every 25 years) [2] while food production increased in an ...

  3. Thomas Malthus on population

    Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) demonstrated perfectly the propensity of each generation to overthrow the fondest schemes of the last when he published An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798), in which he painted the gloomiest picture imaginable of the human prospect. He argued that population, tending to grow at a geometric rate, will ever press against the food supply, which at ...

  4. T. Robert Malthus's Principle of Population Explained

    T. Robert Malthus [1766-1834] Malthus's Population Principle Explained. By Frank W. Elwell . This essay is a faithful summary of Malthus's original 1798 "Principle of Population." While nothing will substitute for reading the original essay with an open mind, I hope this summary will go some way toward rehabilitating this man's ...

  5. PDF Malthus: An Essay on the Principle of Population

    Malthus, R. R. (Thomas Robert), 1766-1834. An essay on the principle of population: or a view of its past and present efects on human happiness, with an inquiry into our prospects respecting the future removal or mitigation of the evils which it occasions / T. R. Malthus: selected and introduced by Donald Winch using the text of the 1803 ...

  6. An Essay on the Principle of Population

    By Thomas Robert Malthus. Essay on the Principle of Population. The first, published anonymously in 1798, was so successful that Malthus soon elaborated on it under his real name. * The rewrite, culminating in the sixth edition of 1826, was a scholarly expansion and generalization of the first.Following his success with his work on population ...

  7. An Essay on the Principle of Population Summary

    Essays for An Essay on the Principle of Population. An Essay on the Principle of Population essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of An Essay on the Principle of Population by Thomas Malthus. Malthus and Darwin: A Study of Theories and Their Adaptation

  8. PDF Thomas Malthus, an Essay on The Principle of Population (1798)1

    THOMAS MALTHUS, AN ESSAY ON THE PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION (1798)1 Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) was an English priest, economist, and demographer best known for his theory of unsustainable population growth, which contradicted more optimistic but widely held views. In his anonymously published An Essay on the Principle of Population ...

  9. An Essay on the Principle of Population [1798, 1st ed.]

    Demography. This is the first edition of Malthus's Essay on the Principle of Population. In this work Malthus argues that there is a disparity between the rate of growth of population (which increases geometrically) and the rate of growth of agriculture (which increases only arithmetically). He then explores how populations have historically ...

  10. An Essay on the Principle of Population: The 1803 Edition on JSTOR

    Malthus's Essay on the Principle of Population remains one of the most influential works of political economy ever written. Most widely circulated in its initial 1798 version, this is the first publication of his benchmark 1803 edition since 1989. Introduced by editor Shannon C. Stimson, this edition includes essays on the historical and ...

  11. An Essay on the Principle of Population as It Affects the Future

    reading the economist Thomas Malthus's Essay on the Principle of Population in September 1838. That was a seminal moment—even if Malthusian ideas had long permeated his Whig circle. Darwin was living through a workhouse revolution. Malthus had said that there would always be too many mouths to feed—population increases geometrically ...

  12. An Essay on the Principle of Population, vol. 1 [1826, 6th ed.]

    Thomas Robert Malthus (author) ; Vol. 1 of the 6th expanded edition of Essay on the Principle of Population. In this work Malthus argues that there is a disparity between the rate of growth of population (which increases geometrically) and the rate of growth of agriculture (which increases only arithmetically).

  13. An Essay on the Principle of Population by T. R. Malthus

    6 by T. R. Malthus. An Essay on the Principle of Population by T. R. Malthus. Read now or download (free!) Choose how to read this book Url Size; Read online (web) ... Malthus, T. R. (Thomas Robert), 1766-1834: Title: An Essay on the Principle of Population Credits: Produced by Charles Aldarondo. HTML version by Al Haines.

  14. An Essay on the Principle of Population

    Chapter 1 Summary. An Essay on the Principle of Population begins with an appraisal of the technological discoveries that allowed for great societal changes in Malthus's time. The pronounced advancements in the fields of natural philosophy, printing, and politics have encouraged a positive outlook on the perfectibility of humankind.

  15. PDF Electronic Scholary Publishing Base Page

    %PDF-1.2 %âãÏÓ 824 0 obj /Linearized 1 /O 826 /H [ 718 722 ] /L 948754 /E 4957 /N 134 /T 932155 >> endobj xref 824 13 0000000016 00000 n 0000000611 00000 n 0000001440 00000 n 0000001616 00000 n 0000001746 00000 n 0000001854 00000 n 0000003421 00000 n 0000004448 00000 n 0000004470 00000 n 0000004580 00000 n 0000004689 00000 n 0000000718 00000 n 0000001418 00000 n trailer /Size 837 /Info 823 ...

  16. Thomas Robert Malthus summary

    Thomas Robert Malthus, (born Feb. 13/14, 1766, Rookery, near Dorking, Surrey, Eng.—died Dec. 29, 1834, St. Catherine, near Bath, Somerset), British economist and demographer. Born into a prosperous family, he studied at the University of Cambridge and was elected a fellow of Jesus College in 1793. In 1798 he published An Essay on the ...

  17. Thomas Malthus

    Thomas Malthus' "Essay on Population" Thomas Malthus believed that natural rates of human reproduction, when unchecked, would lead to geometric increases in population: population would grow in a ratio of 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 and so on.

  18. An essay on the principle of population, as it affects the future

    An essay on the principle of population, as it affects the future improvement of society. With remarks on the speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet and other writers by [Malthus, T. R. (Thomas Robert), 1766-1834]

  19. An essay on the principle of population : Malthus, T. R. (Thomas Robert

    An essay on the principle of population ... An essay on the principle of population by Malthus, T. R. (Thomas Robert), 1766-1834; Gilbert, Geoffrey, 1948-Publication date 1993 Topics Population, Malthusianismus, Population, Humans Population Publisher Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press Collection