Thomas+Malthus

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T H O M A S M A L T H U S

Thomas Malthus was born February 14, 1766 in Surrey, England. He died December 29, 1834 at the age 68 in Bath, England. Malthus is important because of his wide known theories about population and the different responses to various effects. Malthus contributed to the theory of evolution because of his evolutionary social theory of population dynamics.

"Malthus thought that the dangers of population growth would preclude endless progress towards a utopian society: "The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man". As an Anglican clergyman, Malthus saw this situation as divinely imposed to teach virtuous behaviour. Believing that one could not change human nature, Malthus wrote: > Must it not then be acknowledged by an attentive examiner of the histories of mankind, that in every age and in every State in which man has existed, or does now exist, > That the increase of population is necessarily limited by the means of subsistence, > That population does invariably increase when the means of subsistence increase, and, > That the superior power of population is repressed, and the actual population kept equal to the means of subsistence, by misery and vice." (http://en.wikipedia.org) He figured out that there is a limit to how many people that could live on this planet without running out of resources.

"Malthus argued that two types of checks hold population within resource limits: // positive // checks, which raise the death rate; and // preventive // ones, which lower the birth rate. The positive checks include hunger, disease and war; the preventive checks, abortion, birth control, prostitution, postponement of marriage and celibacy. ( http://en.wikipedia.org) He brought us this good theory that this famine, disease and war keep us in check but now that we are advancing in technology, we are learning new ways to cancel out these checks on population and the population is growing faster than death can take place. He helps us understand how our population has gotten so out of control and how new technology can be at its disadvantages.

Work Cited

 * //Google.com //. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.
 * "Thomas Robert Malthus." //Wikipedia //. Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Jan. 2013. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.