An Essay on the Principle of Population

by Malthus, Thomas Robert; Appleman, Philip

• ISBN13: 9780393924107
• ISBN10: 0393924106
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-07-22
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

In many countries, supplies of food and water are inadequate tosupport the population, so the world falls deeper and deeper into whateconomists call the 'œMalthusian trap,' named for the writer whose work,more than any other, brought attention to the population dilemma.Philip Appleman's comprehensive introduction to Thomas Robert Malthus'seminal 1798 work traces the evolution of Malthus' idea and itsvalidity through following generations. The text is accompanied by explanatory annotations and excerpts fromthe revised edition (1803). Key eighteenth-century influences onMalthus are reprinted, including one by Benjamin Franklin. Nine major assessments from the nineteenth century are reprinted,including'”new to the Second Edition'”those of Frances Pace and HarrietMartineau. Contemporary commentary ranges widely through many schools of thought,from Lester R. Brown, Paul and Anne Ehrlich, and Garrett Hardin toJulian Simon and Pope Paul VI. All but one of the twenty-fourselections are new to the Second Edition. A Selected Readings list and Index are included.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition	xi
Introduction	xiii
Part I. Influences on Malthus	1	(12)
David Hume
Of the Populousness of Ancient Nations (1752)	3	(1)
Robert Wallace
A Dissertation on the Numbers of Mankind in Ancient and Modern Times (1753)	4	(1)
Benjamin Franklin
Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind (1755)	5	(1)
Adam Smith
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776)	6	(2)
Condorcet
The Future Progress of the Human Mind (1795)	8	(2)
William Godwin
Of Avarice and Profusion (1797)	10	(3)
Part II. Selections from Malthus' Work	13	(122)
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798)	15	(110)
An Essay on the Principle of Population: From the Revised Edition (1803-)	125	(10)
Part III. Nineteenth-Century Comment	135	(28)
William Godwin
Of Population (1820)	137	(2)
Francis Place
Illustrations and Proofs of the Principle of Population (1822)	139	(1)
Nassau W. Senior
Two Lectures on Population (1829)	140	(3)
Harriet Martineau
Illustrations of Political Economy (1832)	143	(2)
Friedrich Engels
Outlines of a Critique of Political Economy (1844)	145	(3)
John Stuart Mill
Principles of Political Economy (1848)	148	(6)
Charles Darwin
The Origin of Species (1859)	154	(2)
Karl Marx
Capital (1867)	156	(2)
George Bernard Shaw
Fabian Essays (1889)	158	(5)
Part IV: Malthus in the Twenty-First Century	163	(144)
A. POPULATION GROWTH IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: A NEW LOOK AT MALTHUS	165	(20)
The United Nations Population Fund
Footprints and Milestones: Population and Environmental Change (2001)	165	(3)
Lester R. Brown
The Population Challenge (1999)	168	(5)
William R. Catton Jr.
Overshoot (1982)	173	(12)
B. POPULATION AND FOOD SUPPLIES IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY	185	(12)
Gary Gardner
Shrinking Fields (1996)	185	(4)
Lester R. Brown
Eradicating Hunger: A Growing Challenge (2001)	189	(8)
C. POPULATION AND WATER SUPPLIES IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY	197	(8)
Sandra Postel
Last Oasis (1997)	197	(8)
D. POPULATION AND ENERGY SUPPLIES IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY	205	(6)
David Pimentel and Marcia Pimentel
Food, Energy, and Society (1996)	205	(6)
E. POPULATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY	211	(10)
Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich
How Anti-Environmental Rhetoric Threatens Our Future (1996)	211	(10)
F. POPULATION AND SOCIAL DYNAMICS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY	221	(12)
Bingham Kennedy Jr.
Environmental Scarcity and the Outbreak of Conflict (2001)	221	(3)
Lester R. Brown
The Emergence of Demographic Fatigue (1999)	224	(9)
G. SOME CONTEMPORARY CRITICS OF MALTHUSIANISM	233	(14)
Frances Moore Lappé, Joseph Collins, and Peter Rosset
Beyond the Myths of Hunger (1998)	233	(4)
Eric B. Ross
The Malthus Factor (1998)	237	(3)
Julian L. Simon
The Ultimate Resource (1996)	240	(3)
Pope Paul VI
Humane Vitae (1968)	243	(4)
H. RETHINKING ENDLESS POPULATION GROWTH	247	(44)
Joel E. Cohen
How Many People Can the Earth Support? (1995)	247	(11)
Garrett Hardin
Nobody Ever Dies of Overpopulation (1993)	258	(5)
Rodolfo A. Bulatao
The Value of Family Planning Programs in Developing Countries (1998)	263	(4)
Mark W. Nowak
Why Population Policy Matters to America (1998)	267	(7)
J. Kenneth Smail
Remembering Malthus: A Preliminary Argument for a Significant Reduction in Global Human Numbers (2002)	274	(9)
Robert Engelman, Brian Halweil, and Dannielle Nierenberg
Rethinking Population, Improving Lives (2002)	283	(8)
I. THREE SIGNIFICANT POSTSCRIPTS	291	(16)
World Scientists' Warning to Humanity (1993)	291	(8)
Statement on Population Stabilization by World Leaders (1985/1995)	299	(2)
Priority Statement on Population (1991)	301	(6)
Selected Readings	307	(4)
Index	311