Product Description
As the world's population continues to grow at a frighteningly rapid rate, Malthus's classic warning against overpopulation gains increasing importance.An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798) examines the tendency of human numbers to outstrip their resources, and argues that checks in the form of poverty, disease, and starvation are necessary to keep societies from moving beyond their means of subsistence.Malthus's simple but powerful argument was controversial in his time; today his name has become a byword for active concern about humankind's demographic and ecological prospects. ... Read more

Product Description
As the world's population continues to grow at a frighteningly rapid rate, Malthus's classic warning against overpopulation gains increasing importance.An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798) examines the tendency of human numbers to outstrip their resources, and argues that checks in the form of poverty, disease, and starvation are necessary to keep societies from moving beyond their means of subsistence.Malthus's simple but powerful argument was controversial in his time; today his name has become a byword for active concern about humankind's demographic and ecological prospects. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

"Survival in The Real World"
"Survival in The Real World"

"An Essay On The Principle of Population ", by T. R. Malthus, Oxford Univ. Press, NY 2004.ISBN 0-19-283747-8, SC 172 pgs. 19 Chapters plus Introduction 20 pgs., Contents 4 pgs. Notes 9 pgs.,& Index 4 pgs. Inveiglement is a chronology of TR Malthus.

This is 3rd reprint of Oxford World's Classics of the original publication in 1798 of Malthus's acclaimed work, one that's always timely and of tremendous value to readers on anthropology, societal structure, economics, class struggle, moral values & Christianity. Charles Darwin attributed his own insight for later writing "Origin of Species" on evolution after reading Malthus's ideas on survival of the fittest in over population from famine, war, pestilence, etc. and "'the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man".

Written in 1798 the book is, by today's standards, flowery and wordy, but uses exceptionally robust prose, logic and analogies to promote his Principle of Population as he skillfully disassembles conjectures by Godwin and Mr. Condorcet.

Chapter XVIII-XIX dwell on necessity of food for support of life that gives rise to needed exertion, rouses man into action, and with trust in the constancy of the laws of nature, man's mind forms to reason after preparatory labor and ingenuity; and, finally deals with good vs. evil, virtue & vice, mind formation by original thinking not just additive values, and concluding moral evil as necessary to produce moral excellence.

- finis -

The first godless religion was founded, by this book
This book is available, for free reading on internet.Then , I read almost all of it, some years ago.
In XVIII Century, the science was begining, but instead of going to rational view, many people instead was looking to change normal religions, to a godless religion.And the reverend Malthus wrote this trash-book.It was a sucess, specially among upper class.
The main bad ideas of this book are:
1-Mankind is doomed to a massive extermination.
2-How much the time pass, the world will become worse and worse.
3-Only if a massive part of mankind, would be exterminated by war, famine or desease, the world can becomes bettter.
4-The main problem in the world is mankind.

About England itself, in XIV, England had just about 2 million people and famine was massive.The life expectancy was just about 12 years, in England during XIV Century.Today, England has more than 70 million people, there's no famine and a normal english has more than the triople life expectancy than a royal prince in XVI century and decades more than in XIX Century.Tecnology, politic,religion and not population growing really decided the level of life.

These same bad ideas of this book , were later plagiated and became part of marxism, eugenics and in nowadays of ecology.Even being ridiculous in level of ideas, this book remains believed and preached.Malthus was the founding father of marxism, eugenics and ecology.All of these bad ideas , at their begining are in this book.Why two stars, instead of one star?Because this book remains believed, for many powerfull people in our times.The first godless religion in the world- malthusianism- was created by this book.Then came marxism, eugenics and ecology; all godless religions based on Malthus' believes of this book.

Was Malthus Right?
Malthus' Essay on the Principle of Population has been the subject of much debate. 19th Century economists accepted The Population Principle as fact. 20th century economists have arrived at such a strong consensus against the Population Principle, that the subject is considered as closed. The main reason for this consensus is failure to realize Malthus' dire predictions. Declines in birth rates among prosperous nations indicate that Malthus was wrong.

An Essay on the Principle of Population is important today for several reasons. First, it is an important part of history. Second, population issues still loom large. Also, historian Ross Emmett has reinterpreted Malthus in a way that fits better with world experience. My own reading of An Essay on the Principle of Population fits with Emmett's reinterpretation of Malthus.

Malthus reasoned through one of the biggest issues. This is a classic of political economy, worthy of careful consideration. Don't listed to those who say Malthus has been proven wrong. Read this book and judge its merits yourself.

Scary.
That Thomas Robert Malthus was a cleric might startle some readers, who could look on his pessimism as something that is more typical of a man of hard, God-less science. Malthus was clearly, once one examines deep within the heart of his treatise on overpopulation, a theist, and a hard-hearted "God Disposes" sort of one at that. Underneath everything, we can sense Malthus' view being, "ultimately what does this brief, cluttered, hopeless world matter next to eternal life in Heaven?" Malthus' statements about the human race breeding past its ability to feed itself, have merit, but he failed to take into account the capacity of science to be humanity's deliverer. Revolutions in agriculture, medicine, social health, as well as many other fields, not excluding simple advances in birth control, have to an extent nullified the ABSOLUTE nature of Thomas Malthus' ideas, and instead, alas, made them true primarily in the 21st century for the Third World alone. Malthus was a man both in and ahead of his time--in it because he had but to open his eyes and see starvation and orphaned children, poverty and overcrowding in the slums, and ahead of his time in that he looked forward and forecast a dire warning to the world of a time when the horrors of this state might over-sweep civilization and strangle it to death with numbers alone. Malthus was a cruel man on one hand, advocating the selective starvation of a segment of society. He totally opposed any form of welfare, charity or aid to those who could not contribute to their own upkeep. Those types, he argued, decayed human society and lead it closer to the nightmare state he detailed in his work. He cited wars, plagues, famines, as servants of humanity, in that they thinned the ranks and tried to keep us from reproducing ourselves into extinction. Malthus' fearful prognostications might yet see its consummation one day and some may say that in various parts of the world we are already seeing it, but I take the stance that if our species has one great gift, it is its intellect, and that intellect might-if we are motivated by conditions made intolerable--yet serve to deliver us from even our self-created scenarios of mad destruction.

Bigger than life
The reverend Thomas Robert Malthus is one of these figures that influences, in his case for good, generations to come. The concepts he developed, which is not the same to say that he discovered the fundamentals of these concepts, are of such working capability, that they can be used even today on a daily basis, some 200 + years after the first publication of his seminal and most important book, certainly one of the most important texts of all times. His name turned itself into an important adjective, malthusian, sometimes associated to a lot of misconceptions and misuse, mainly due to undue interpretations of things Malthus did not said, or did write with a different manifest meaning. Troughout his lifetime, Malthus, already a recognised and famous man, had to revise a lot of editions of his works in order to precise what he meant to say.

Dipping down into the original malthusian fountain is, in this way, a pretty much refreshing and inspiring experience, shunning aside the many bad interpretations attached to his original thinking by second hand reading. As a plus, the book presents at the end two extremely beatifully written chapters on the philosophical reasons behind Good and Evil, a necessary explanation in a revolutionary theory that could be interpreted as intrinsically evilsome. To add content and lustre to all Malthus wrote, one has to remind that the greatest economist of the XX century, John Maynard Keynes, felt himself philosophically and theoretically affiliated with Malthus in a very great scale, to the point of saying that, if Malthus had been better understood, the world would not had to suffer the weaknesses of David Ricardo's theories. ... Read more

Product Description
This Collection of essays includes four of Thomas Malthus' best-known works:

AN ESSAY ON THE PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION
THE NATURE AND PROGRESS OF RENT
OBSERVATIONS ON THE EFFECT OF THE CORN LAWS
ON THE POLICY OF RESTRICING THE IMPORTATION OF FOREIGN CORN

This ebook is DRM free and Includes an active table of contents for easy navigation.
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Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Publisher: W. Pickering; Publication date: 1836; Subjects: Economics; Classical school of economics; Business ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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From Preface: "The following Essay owes its origin to a conversation with a friend, on the subject of Mr. Godwin's Essay, on avarice and profusion, in his Enquirer. The discussion, started the general question of the future improvement of society; and the Author at first sat down with an intention of merely stating his thoughts to his friend, upon paper, in a clearer manner than he thought he could do in conversation. But as the subject opened upon him, some ideas occurred, which he did not recollect to have met with The following Essay owes its origin to a conversation with a friend, on the subject of Mr. Godwin's Essay, on avarice and profusion, in his Enquirer. The discussion, started the general question of the future improvement of society; and the Author at first sat down with an intention of merely stating his thoughts to his friend, upon paper, in a clearer manner than he thought he could do in conversation. But as the subject opened upon him, some ideas occurred, which he did not recollect to have met with speculations on the future improvement of society, in a temper very different from a wish to find them visionary; but he has not acquired that command over his understanding which would enable him to believe what he wishes, without evidence, or to refuse his assent to what might be unpleasing, when accompanied with evidence." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Must Read for Anyone Interested In Economic Theory
This essay lays out Malthus's dire predictions for the future of mankind at a time when few else speculated on the future of industrialization with such gloom. It is an excellent read for anyone interested in economic THEORY...

The gentleman below gave this only one star. A glance at his review reveals it is because he prefers Marx and only Marx. My recommendation to him is to give the work a fair review and not bash it due to his own preference for one train of thought. In short, his opinion sucks...

One of the ugliest and most wrong-headed books ever written
When Marx was writing The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, he was fond of quoting or closely paraphrasing mainstream political economists who were influential in his day.Ricardo, Smith, and Jean-Baptite Say were obvious choices, and so was Thomas Malthus.Marx's objective was to show that his understanding of capitalism was invariably quite similar to that of the influential main-streamers.It's as if he'd point to a particularly egregious, but ostensibly inescapable characteristic of capitalism and say, "They said it, I didn't."The difference between Marx and the main-streamers was Marx thought a different, much more humane system was possible.

One of Marx's favorite targets was Thomas Malthus, a protestant clergyman as well as a political economist.Here is a typical passage from the first version of Malthus' Essay on Population:"If we dread the too frequent visitation of the horrid form of famine, we should sedulously encourage the other forms of destruction which we compel nature to use.Instead of recommending cleanliness to the poor, we should encourage contrary habits.In our towns we should make the streets narrower, crowd more people into houses, and court the return of the plague.In the country we should build our villages near stagnant pools, and particularly encourage settlements in all marshy and unwholesome situations.But above all we should [reject] specific remedies for various diseases ..."

This is an extremely ugly statement even by 19th century Dickensian standards, but Malthus enjoyed the admiration of many learned men of his time, including Thomas Jefferson.Malthus' claim that food production naturally and inevitably increases additively or arithmetically, while population naturally and inevitably increases geometrically, was and is without foundation. Malthus acknowledges as much in the thoroughly revised edition of this volume published later.Furthermore, if one were looking for an 18th century variant on victim blaming, this would be it:famine and attendant horrors are due entirely to the unbridled, undisciplined, unrestrained recklessness with which members of the working class and peasantry indulge their sexual appetites.Were they prudent, workers and peasants would restrain themselves to conform to the claims and constraints of nascent capitalism.

A thoughtful and well-written comment from a reader who has a favorable view of Malthus prompted me to remember why I found his book so objectionable when I read it for a course in demography forty years ago.As a protestant clergyman, a New Testament Christian, it's disconcerting to realize that Malthus, without substantiation, would attribute to his God such gratuitous cruelty in the way he made the world.Today, however, I'm an atheist and the parallels between Malthus' assertions-without-analyses bring to mind the unequivocal proclamations of right-wing talk show hosts and neo-conservative ideologues.

The same reader made the point that Malthus was not a malicious, splenetic ogre.His portraits invariably display a cheerful smile.Having read Malthus, one has to wonder just what this man was smiling about -- God is in his heaven and the world is rife with misery ... ?

Rejecting Malthus' ill-conceived notions as to the consequences of population growth does not imply endorsement of the idea that growth can continue unabated forever without adverse consequences.Rejecting Malthus means that he failed to acknowledge that the consequences of growth may vary markedly dependening on the way that a specific social system is organized.This is a crucial issue that Malthus, an intellectual prisoner of the status quo, did not see.

Why read this horrible book today?Well, we do have folks in policy making positions who are called Neo-Malthusians.What can they be up to? ... Read more

Product Description
This collection includes all of Malthus' pamphlet essays on rent theory, inflation, the corn laws and educational policy among which are An Investigation of the Cause of the Present High Price of Provisions (1800), A Letter to Samuel Whitbread ... on the Poor Laws (1807), Observations on the Effects of the Corn Laws (1814), Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Rent (1815), and The Grounds of an Opinion on the Policy of Restricting the Importation of Foreign Corn (1815). "His pamphlets are numerous and celebrated." W.C. Mitchell Types of Economic Theory, I. ... Read more

Product Description
This Collection of essays includes four of Thomas Malthus' best-known works:

AN ESSAY ON THE PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION
THE NATURE AND PROGRESS OF RENT
OBSERVATIONS ON THE EFFECT OF THE CORN LAWS
ON THE POLICY OF RESTRICING THE IMPORTATION OF FOREIGN CORN

Includes an active table of contents. ... Read more

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This unique collection brings together a wide range of responses to Malthus' works from 1798 through 1900. While it concentrates on responses to his ideas on population, this set also explores Malthus' contributions to political economy, especially those relating to the Poor Laws and the Corn Laws. The selections illustrate the wide-ranging, varied response to Malthus' work, and his powerful influence on supporters and detractors alike. There are contributions from literary figures and scientists, as well as economists, and responses from France and the United States as well as from the United Kingdom. ... Read more

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Thomas Robert Malthus and John Stuart Mill dominated the study of the social sciences in the Nineteenth Century. It was Malthus, not Ricardo or Marx, who was the most famous social scientist of the Nineteenth Century. This fame rested upon his pamphlet, "An Essay on the Principle of Population", whose harsh conclusion caused much contemporary concern. However, the essays published in this volume emphasis the theological, moral and historical orientation of his thought and the more positive attitude towards the masses found within his later writings. The breadth and sophistication of Jon Stuart Mill's life and works is no less stunning now than it was in the nineteenth century. Not only an economist, Mill was also a Benthamite, logician, philosopher, political theorist and "belle lettrist". Recent scholarship has reinforced our sense of a thinker whose system of thought as a whole is rich, subtle and basically coherent within its own terms. ... Read more

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Thomas Malthus’s An Essay on the Principle of Population, published in 1798, was a work much more widely discussed than read. This selection represents a wide range of arguments that followed this contentious work – from those who vehemently attacked Malthusian notions to those who passionately defended them. Including articles by William Cobbett, William Hazlitt, and Thomas de Quincey, this volume brings together some of the most lively contributors to the debate. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A precognitive warning!
If you make an account about the huge precognitive capacity in outstanding human beings, you will agree with meR.M. was one of them; but the list is enormous: Giordano Bruno, William Blake, Dostoievsky,Hobbes, Chateaubriand, Goethe, among the most representative ones.
The boldness, courage and intelligence converged in this visionary who clearly anticipated, a set of smart annotations, reflections and statements that sounded so apocalyptic in that age but pitifully, through the years have been materialized with ineffable precision.
Malthus foresaw, despite the reduced frame of the scientific advances the ominous reality
the unavoidable contradictions between the limited resources provided for the nature and the increasing growth of the human beings, as well as its needs and requirements.
He was somehow one of the pioneers of the Ecology, and his ideas still permeate the rational side of the human being.
The relevance and actuality of this text makes of it,without discussion one of the foremost distinguished essays written in any age.


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The volumes are thematically arranged, examining first the life of Thomas Malthus and perspectives on his thought; secondly his Essay on Population and Principles of political thought: and thirdly Malthusian Economic Analysis. ... Read more

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Malthus's classic work, An Essay on Principle ofPopulation, first appeared anonymously in 1798. The work was greetedwith considerable excitement and caused Malthus to examine thewritings and observations of innumerable other writers in order todefend his views against a host of critics. The result was a secondenlarged edition, which Malthus himself calls "a new work". Thefurther four editions that appeared in his lifetime were all tovarying degrees rewritten and altered. This variorum of the first sixeditions reveals all the major and minor changes Malthus made in theEssay in the twenty-eight years that separate the appearance of thefirst and sixth editions. Considered cumulatively, these reworkingsshow the progression of Malthus's thinking in the light of hostilecriticism. The impact of Malthus's book was far-reaching - even Darwinand Wallace acknowledge Malthus as the source of the idea of "thestruggle for existence". ... Read more

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[Malthus, Thomas Robert].

An Essay on the Principle of Population, as it Affects the Future Improvement of Society, with Remarks On the Speculation of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and Others.

London: J. Johnson, 1798. ix, 396 pp. Reprinted 2007 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-728-1. ISBN-10: 1-58477-728-1. Cloth. $125.

* Reprint of the very rare first edition. One of the most influential works on political economy, it had a profound effect on social policy during the nineteenth century, especially on the development of harsher poor laws in Great Britain. (It was the guiding spirit behind the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834.) The central point of the Essay is that population increases geometrically while food supplies increase arithmetically, which will eventually lead to starvation and disease in the poorest sections of the community. In order to prevent this from happening, he posits, people, especially the poor, should have children later in life and limit the size of their families. ... Read more

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Malthus's classic prescription for the problem of overpopulation
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