Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) was a British scholar and minister of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He is most famous for his "Essay on the Principle of Population" (1798).
In " Principle of Population," Thomas Malthus proposed that populations, both human and animal, grow at a very high rate. Populations grow through repeated multiplication. At the same time, he stated that food supplies can only grow at an arithmetic rate. That is, food supplies grow through repetition. This means that populations will always grow far faster than the food required to support the population. Malthus believed that there is population checks, “positive checks", such as plagues and starvation. and "preventive checks", such as birth control measures and delayed marriage. These checks all work to keep population balanced. Malthus suggest that famine and disease were natural consequences of "over population".
Today evolution is accepted as scientific fact. And it was Malthus that first highlighted the process of differential replication, using human populations to illustrate his point. Thomas Malthus' opinions regarding the struggle to survive helped to inspire Charles Darwin in his development of the Theory of "Natural Selection". Darwin noted that the population-food imbalance proposed by Malthus would lead to competition between offspring. He considered that some of those offspring would be better fit and equipped for the struggle than others, and so they would thrive. Which lead to the term, "survival of the fittest", which led to the central theme to Darwin's developing theory.
In " Principle of Population," Thomas Malthus proposed that populations, both human and animal, grow at a very high rate. Populations grow through repeated multiplication. At the same time, he stated that food supplies can only grow at an arithmetic rate. That is, food supplies grow through repetition. This means that populations will always grow far faster than the food required to support the population. Malthus believed that there is population checks, “positive checks", such as plagues and starvation. and "preventive checks", such as birth control measures and delayed marriage. These checks all work to keep population balanced. Malthus suggest that famine and disease were natural consequences of "over population".
Today evolution is accepted as scientific fact. And it was Malthus that first highlighted the process of differential replication, using human populations to illustrate his point. Thomas Malthus' opinions regarding the struggle to survive helped to inspire Charles Darwin in his development of the Theory of "Natural Selection". Darwin noted that the population-food imbalance proposed by Malthus would lead to competition between offspring. He considered that some of those offspring would be better fit and equipped for the struggle than others, and so they would thrive. Which lead to the term, "survival of the fittest", which led to the central theme to Darwin's developing theory.
Darwin’s ideas provoked a harsh and immediate response from
religious leaders in Britain at his time. During Darwin's time, the idea of
evolution debates the existence of God. Darwin’s book, "The
Origin of Species", immediately sparked debates across the world; huge
numbers of book reviews, critiques and negative responses were published.
Source: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/malthus.html
Source: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/malthus.html
For clarification, "arithmetic" growth can also occur at a high rate. The difference is that populations had the capacity of reproducing "exponentially" and that is why populations could outgrow their food supplies.
ReplyDeleteGood explanation of how Darwin took Malthus' work and applied it to further his own ideas. With regard to the bullet points in the guidelines, which one(s) do you think apply most closely to Malthus?
Missing the discussion on whether or not you think Darwin could have developed his theory without Malthus.
The final question doesn't ask about what happened *after* Darwin published but how the influence of the church influenced Darwin's decision to publish at all. Darwin delayed publishing for more than 20 years. Why? What were his concerns? And how did the church's influence play a role in this delay?