Gilbert, Geoffrey (Ed.) : Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Summary
As the world's population continues to grow at a frighteningly rapid rate, Malthus's classic warning against
overpopulation gains increasing importance. An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798) examines the tendency
of human numbers to outstrip their resources, and argues that checks in the form of poverty, disease, and starvation
are necessary to keep societies from moving beyond their means of subsistence. Malthus's simple but powerful argument
was controversial in his time; today his name has become a byword for active concern about humankind's demographic
and ecological prospects.
