An Essay on the Principle of Population - Softcover

Malthus, T.R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486456080 ISBN 13: 9780486456089

Publisher: Dover Publications Inc.(Mineola N.Y,USA), 2007

Synopsis

The first major study of population size and its tremendous importance to the character and quality of society, this polemic examines the tendency of human numbers to outstrip their resources. Pivotal in establishing the field of demography, it remains crucial to understanding modern problems with food production and distribution.
Anglican parson Thomas Robert Malthus wrote his famous essay in 1798 in response to speculations on social perfectibility aroused by the French Revolution. Because human powers of procreation so greatly exceed the production of food, Malthus explained, population will always exceed available resources, and many will inevitably live at the ragged edge of subsistence. His simple yet powerful argument — demonstrating that scarcity and inequality arise even in a society purged of all unjust laws and institutions — was highly controversial in its day. Many of Malthus' contemporaries despised him for dashing their hopes of social progress, and the grim logic of his "population principle" led Thomas Carlyle to dub economics "the dismal science."
Today, Malthus' name is practically synonymous with active concern about demographic and ecological prospects, and his classic remains ever relevant to issues of social policy, theology, evolution, and the environment.

About this title

Product Description

Title: An Essay on the Principle of Population <>Binding: Paperback <>Author: ThomasRobertMalthus <>Publisher: DoverPublications

About the Author

Thomas Malthus (1766–1834), was a British scholar, influential in political economy and demography. Malthus popularized the economic theory of rent. Malthus has become widely known for his analysis according to which societal improvements result in population growth. The six editions of his Principles of Population, published from 1798 to 1826, predict that sooner or later population gets checked by famine, disease, and widespread mortality. He wrote in the context of the popular view, in 18th century Europe, that saw society as improving, and in principle as perfectible. William Godwin and the Marquis de Condorcet, for example, believed in the possibility of almost limitless improvement of society. So, in a more complex way, did Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose notions centered on the goodness of man and the liberty of citizens bound only by the social contract, a form of popular sovereignty. Malthus thought that the dangers of population growth would preclude endless progress towards a utopian society: "The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man". As an Anglican clergyman, Malthus saw this situation as divinely imposed to teach virtuous behavior. Believing that one could not change human nature, and that egalitarian societies were prone to over-population], Malthus wrote in dramatic terms: "epidemics, pestilence and plague advance in terrific array, and sweep off their thousands and ten thousands. Should success be still incomplete, gigantic famine stalks in the rear, and with one mighty blow, levels the population with the food of the world". Malthus placed the longer-term stability of the economy above short-term expediency. He criticized the Poor Laws, and (alone among important contemporary economists) supported the Corn Laws, which introduced a system of taxes on British imports of wheat. He thought these measures would encourage domestic production, and so promote long-terms of benefit. Malthus became hugely influential, and controversial, in economic, political, social and scientific thought. Many of those whom subsequent centuries sometimes term "evolutionary biologists" also read him, notably Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, for each of whom Malthusianism became an intellectual stepping-stone to the idea of natural selection. Malthus remains a writer of great significance, and debate continues as to whether his direst expectations will come about.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dover Publications Inc.(Mineola N.Y,USA)
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0486456080
• ISBN 13: 9780486456089
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 152