Malthus And Overpopulation Research

Thomas Malthus was an English philosopher who lived from 1766 to 1834, An Essay on the Principle of Population, is one of the most influential pieces of writing in history. Not only did it help to establish the modern field of economics, it aided Charles Darwin on his regarding evolutionary science. Malthus’ core argument that runs a majority of the book is dedicated to the ‘Iron Law of Population’. This essay will seek to examine the premises of Thomas Malthus’ 1798 an Essay on the Principle of Population and conclude on its argument as well as provide a justification of the invalidity of the argument. In addition, it will identify its multiple influences on historical contexts throughout time.

In 1798 utilitarian Thomas Malthus published An Essay on the Principle of Population as an argument against an utopian society based on social and economic equality. Malthus believed that if the human population is left unchecked then the population would outgrow the resources necessary to maintain the population. Malthus’s argued that the population will continue to grow and the burden will unavoidably put on the poor population. However, the inequality of population would be a good thing in terms of controlling the population.

“The Wreck of Time,” written by Annie Dillard, illustrates societies battle with population. Dillard emphasizes the disasters that savage our world. According to the author, “ By moderate figures, the dead outnumber us about fourteen to one. The dead will always outnumber the living.” (Dillard 168) The amount of natural or man-made catastrophes do not affect the population as much as we claim. Dillards opinions are supported with facts throughout her essay, but readers are still left to question, why is our world considered to be overpopulated? Perhaps it is time for our society to consider Earth is not overpopulated in terms of people, but in resources. In addition, humans are struggling to grasp that other ecosystems are also being affected. With the introduction of Darwinism (the theory of evolution, by natural selections), humans are programed with the mentality of “survival of the fittest” forcing our humanity to evolve. Although evolution proved to be beneficial, as our immune system and way of life improved, we sacrificed our natural resources along the way. The problem with our society is not the lack of knowledge, but the ignorance and selfishness within our society. Overpopulation, threatened by the lack of resources, intimidates humans to disrupt biodiversity as we know it. (1) Man-made changes jeopardize our biodiversity. (2) As a result, the Earth’s resources are being depleted due to rapid consumption. (3) Even though we lack resources,

No matter how many people do claim overpopulation is not a relevant issue, it very much is because of the simple fact that starvation and pollution are very real and existing issues that are ultimately offset by overpopulation. In an article titled “Overpopulation Is Not the Problem,” author Erle C. Ellis uses the analogy “Like bacteria in a petri dish, our exploding numbers are reaching the limits of a finite planet, with dire consequences,” to argue that overpopulation is not a problem by stating the opposing claim. “We are nothing like bacteria in a petri dish,” Mr. Ellis solemnly asserts, “...these claims demonstrate a profound misunderstanding of the ecology of human systems. The conditions that sustain humanity are not natural and never have been. Since prehistory, human populations have used technologies and engineered ecosystems to sustain

Thomas Malthus believed that natural rates in reproduction, when not checked, would lead to an increase of population. He also went on to state that along with the natural rate of population growth that the rate of food production would only increase at about half of that rate. If an attempt wasn’t made to keep the population under control then overt actions would be required to manipulate food production or order to stave off starvation. Malthus had two ideas that he believed would

Malthus believed there were two “checks” that could reduce the population, returning it to a more sustainable level. He believed that abstinence, delaying marriage until finances become suitable for a family, and restricting

This article informs the reader about Thomas Malthus population theory, he asked parliament for help believed that the population was increasing faster than the goods available. He stated that the population should be put in check to prevent and drastic growth. Malthus even concluded that if people wouldn’t control population then plagues and war would take care of it.

Malthus states that there are certain checks on population and points out that there is no society without any check applied. An unchecked population increases in a geometrical ratio, what means that it doubles itself every twenty-five years. Instead, the available food does not increase geometrically, but gradually diminishes, because of the limited amount of fertile land. In contrast to the population, the agricultural production, under favourable circumstances, is able to only increase in an arithmetical ratio (Malthus, p. 6). A gap between population growth and the amount of food available rises. As a result, to further increase the food supply, it is necessary to improve the quality of the soil (Malthus, p. 4). Malthus points out that there is still land which is not cultivated, even in Europe, and that especially in this region it is possible to enhance the soil quality due to the progress of the industrialization, but it will be gradually diminishing (Malthus, p.

Although the Cornucopian theory is an optimistic outlook on the earth’s future, it is most certainly unrealistic. It states that capitalism and technology will continue to develop and help us in the future. However, capitalism is a main contributor to how deep people are in poverty today as it only helps the rich get richer and the poor become more poor. If the earth’s population continues to increase at such a rapid pace, environmental, economic, political and social turmoil will follow, as stated in Malthus’ theory. Many of the effects of overpopulation are occurring right now, proving that Malthus’ theory is correct.

From his findings, Malthus purported the demise of mankind would come from the ‘misery and vice’ (conflict) resulting from not-having-enough food to support a rapidly growing population. He believed, without some mechanism (economic choice) humanity would not survive their own growth, and specifically, he projected humanity would not make it to the 20 th century (Malthus, 1798); there would not be enough food to support the population.

In the 19th century, British economist Thomas Malthus envisioned that the world’s population would, later on, exceed its magnitude for multiplying the amount of food. In relation to that, prophets

Thomas Malthus was an early 19th century English scholar who specializes in political economy and demographics. One of his most well-known and influential works ‘An Essay on the Principle of Population' argued that the increase in population growth would ultimately create social and economic problems for a nation. On the contrary, many famous political economists such as Ester Boserup and Julian Simon suggested different views about population and resource growth; which contradicts the Malthus’ theory.

Thomas Robert Malthus wrote ‘An Essay on the Principle of Population’ to outline his theory of population growth.

With a growing population along with limited resources and food, Thomas Malthus predicted that the world would start to fall apart. Malthus inferred that over time, the rapidly increasing population growth would result in incidents of mass pollution and diminishing resources. In result of these issues, he implied that they would lead to larger issues, such as famine, disease, war, population collapse and ultimately, great suffering. With the current world population of seven billion, the world has reached and surpassed the carrying capacity, which will have negative impacts on humans. This is conveyed through the improving standard of life, depletion of resources and environmental issues.

Thomas Robert Malthus is widely regarded as the worlds first professional political economist. He was born on 13th February 1766 to a wealthy English family and after being educated by his father at home, he went on to study Mathematics at Jesus College, Cambridge and become the most well known social scientist of the Nineteenth century. Through his life, Malthus wrote many books and essays and his writings can be split into two periods. In the first period his writings dealt with the unrest of labour and attempts to restructure society to promote the welfare of the worker. In the second period from 1814 onwards, his writings dealt more with the corn laws and the problems between the landlords and capitalists. This essay will explain