Overview

Resulting from discussions with his father on the works of Condorcet and William Godwin, Thomas Malthus (1766–1834) published anonymously in 1798 his first and most famous work. Written as a polite attack on French post-revolutionary speculations on social and human perfectibility, this remains one of the most powerful statements of the limits to human hopes set by the tension between population growth and natural resources. Central to his philosophy was the belief that 'The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man'. The publication was extremely controversial, not only because of the discussions of prostitution, contraception and sex, but also because Malthus denied the right of the poor to be supported in the face of famine, poverty and disease. This 1798 first edition led to a riposte from Godwin, Of Population (1820), which is also reissued in this series.

Full Product Details

Author:   Thomas Robert Malthus
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 14.00cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 21.60cm
Weight:   0.532kg
ISBN:  

9781108079143

ISBN 10:   1108079148
Pages:   420
Publication Date:   18 February 2021
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Question stated; 2. The different rations in which population and food increase; 3. The savage or hunter state shortly reviewed; 4. State of civilized nations; 5. The second, or positive check to population examined, in England; 6. New colonies; 7. A probable cause of epidemics; 8. Mr Wallace; 9. M. Condorcet's conjecture concerning the organic perfectibility of man; 10. Mr Godwin's system of equality; 11. Mr Godwin's conjecture concerning the future extinction of the passion between the sexes; 12. Mr Godwin's conjecture concerning the indefinite prolongation of human life; 13. Error of Mr Godwin in considering man too much in the light of a being merely rational; 14. Mr Godwin's five propositions respecting political truth; 15. Models too perfect, may sometimes rather impede than promote improvement; 16. Probable error of Dr Adam Smith; 17. Question of the proper definition of the wealth of a state; 18. The constant pressure of distress on man; 19. The sorrows of life necessary to soften and humanize the heart.

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