商品詳細

First published anonymously in 1798, and the result of a discussion with his father on the perfectibility of society, this text was originally intended as a response to ideas developed in Godwin's "Enquirer" and "Political Justice". The essay is based around Malthus's principle of population: that as the population increases geometrically, pressure is placed on the Earth's agricultural resources, which can only increase at an arithmetic rate: hence Malthus's prediction of mass starvation. His argument further maintained that population is prevented from increasing beyond the food supply by positive (war, famine, and pestilence) and preventive checks (abortions, infancticide and birth control). This second edition of the essay Malthus himself called "a new work" and was written in response to the numerous critical writings and responses to the first edition. This version places a great emphasis upon preventative checks and a new passage can be found advocating delayed marriage as the most powerful check on population.