An Essay on the Principle of Population: The Original 1798 Edition

Thomas Malthus was a mild-mannered economist who set the world afire in 1798 with this essay on the principle of population. Prompted to put his thoughts down on paper in response to a work by William Godwin (Avarice and Profusion) and other writers such as Marquis de Condorcet and Adam Smith the book was originally published anonymously... and for good reason. Malthus understood that the implications of his principle did not align well with Christian charity.Charles Darwin would eventually seize upon the population principle where strife surrounds humanitys quest for scarce natural resources as the actual mechanism by which life emerged in the first place through natural selection. Now imbued with the certainty of science Malthus principle combined with Darwins insight was begging for application to human society. The application most commonly is called eugenics. However other applications exist too such as population control. This is the original 1798 edition. In later editions Malthus would spend a great deal of time clarifying his position and defending himself against critics. It was one of these later editions that Darwin was influenced by. Still it is always interesting to hear the argument as it was first proposed. This edition also includes the essay by Godwin that first moved Malthus to write his book.