Principle of Population Published
February, 1798 · Early Modern
February 1798. Thomas Malthus published An Essay on the Principle of Population, which proposed the theory of population growth. This discovery was a major breakthrough in understanding the structure and function of population growth, which helped to precipitate the discovery of the theory of evolution by natural selection by Darwin.
Key Figures
Thomas Robert MalthusWilliam Godwin
Locations
London, England
Topics
an essay on the principle of populationpopulation growththomas malthus
Connected Events — 2 Connections
Darwin read Malthus population essay and directly extracted the mechanism of natural selection from Malthus struggle-for-survival argument Darwin Reads Malthus's Essay on Population
Malthus 1798 Essay on the Principle of Population was written as an explicit rebuttal of Godwin argument for human perfectibility, with the original title referencing the Speculations of Mr Godwin Godwin Publishes An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice
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