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Thomas MalthusAn Essay on the Principle of Population
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1798A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
An Essay on the Principle of Population begins with an appraisal of the technological discoveries that allowed for great societal changes in Malthus’s time. The pronounced advancements in the fields of natural philosophy, printing, and politics have encouraged a positive outlook on the perfectibility of humankind. Philosophers and other influential figures are fervently hooked to this topic: whereas some optimistically believe humankind may one day achieve perfection, others argue there is absolutely no escaping from “a perpetual oscillation between happiness and misery,” no matter how much growth is observed in society (1). Whereas conservative thinkers dismiss new ideas as “silly speculations,” progressives likewise believe their opponents profit too much from the abuses of society to modify their prejudiced outlooks (2). Malthus laments the lack of communication between these opposite factions and points out both are so concerned with dismissing the arguments of the other they have lost their drive to search for the truth.
Before elaborating on his own theory about the perfectibility of humankind, Malthus first expresses regret for his pessimistic outlook. He credits the works of David Hume, Alfred Russel Wallace, and, more importantly, Adam Smith, for inspiring his perspective. He laments that even great minds may draw mistaken conclusions, such is in the cases of William Godwin and Marquis de Condorcet, who both believe in the perfectibility and unlimited growth of the human condition. In advancing his own theory, Malthus promises not to enter into conjecture that cannot be proven empirically. He points out that while the chances of mankind one day growing feathers and becoming an ostrich are not null, philosophical arguments that are logical and sound cannot be based on such wild speculations.
The foundation of his theory is based on two premises. The first is that food is necessary to human existence. The second is that “the passion between the sexes is necessary and will remain nearly in its present state,” (4). In other words, sex as a means for reproduction and, most importantly, birth rate, may remain the relatively the same over the years. These two premises, Malthus argues, are fixed laws of nature and have not changed since the advent of humankind; as such, he finds it reasonable to conclude they may not change henceforth. This, he states in opposition to Godwin, who speculated that human nature may one day substitute intellectual pleasures for reproductive sex (see chapter 11).
Malthus then postulates that population growth happens at a rate exponentially greater than the capacity to produce food on earth. Without any checks to growth, population increases in a geometrical ratio (exponential growth) whereas subsistence only increases in an arithmetical ratio (linear growth). Given food is essential for sustaining life, and human labor essential in growing food, Malthus postulates these two factors heavily influence each other. When there is a surplus of food, people may find life easy and have more children. When there is a surplus of people, starvation and other misery due to lack of food or affordable living may keep the population in check. In other words, the difficulty of subsistence once food production cannot keep up with human multiplication acts as a check on the exponential growth of population.
This inequality of growth rate between population and its means of subsistence is a law of nature that cannot be escaped. It applies constant pressure on every individual to produce more than it reproduces, an impossible task on the macro scale. Consequently, Malthus cannot envision a single society in which people live in perpetual luxury and leisure regardless of its social structure. Likewise, he cannot think of a single example for the existence of such a society. Given the soundness of his premises and the logic of his argument, Malthus concludes it is reasonable to overthrow the concept of the infinite perfectibility of humankind.
Chapter 2 Summary
In Chapter 2, Malthus further develops the premises that make up his theory of population. He begins by imagining a state of society where resources are abundant, and people live in equality and virtue. Under these circumstances, there would be no worry about providing for a family. Without any powers to check the exponential increase of population, it is easy to envision an explosion of new births. Malthus offers the United States as a prime example to illustrate this point: with ample territory for expansion and early marriages left unchecked, the population of the United States doubled within 25 years. This exponential growth is what Malthus calls a geometrical increase.
However, when Malthus considers the production of food, the same growth rate is unimaginable. Even under the most optimistic conditions, if production of food doubled in the first 25 years, it is impossible to think it would double again in 50 years, yielding quadruple the initial harvest. Malthus pronounces this to be “contrary to all our knowledge of the qualities of land” (7). In other words, production of food can only increase in a linear fashion, that is, arithmetically.
Considering these two factors together, it becomes clear that food production will soon be unable to provide for an increasingly large group of people. Emigration, or the search of additional land, may be a solution on a micro scale, but it necessarily generates misery since it entails leaving loved ones behind, which is a far cry from the optimist image of humanity as infinitely perfectible. Malthus then invites readers to consider the earth as a whole: with limited space, the superior growth rate of population will inevitably lead to a lack of food, making it impossible for everyone to achieve even basic subsistence. There must be a superior power capable of checking the exponential growth of population.
This limitless growth is easily observed and perpetuated in nature. Without the superior capacity to reason, plants and animals reproduce to the extent they are capable, with no consideration for providing for their offspring. This is what Malthus calls the state of equality. However, humans do not live in this state, and many factors can deter them from reproducing freely. For example, people may not start a family if they are not financially able to provide for children, if their rank in life must be lowered to take care of a child, or if they must forfeit their independence for the responsibilities of parenthood. In all these scenarios, considerations for the future prevent “a very great number in all civilized nations from pursuing the dictate of nature in an early attachment to one woman” (9). In other words, Malthus values early marriages as virtuous and considers men’s distaste for marrying early as a vice. Nevertheless, duty alone is insufficient as a deterrent to the multiplication of population. Malthus insists that even in the most vicious societies, the incentive to remain virtuous and reproducing is stronger than otherwise.
The author then proposes another scenario: he envisions a country that produces just enough food to support all its seven million inhabitants. If even the most vicious societies reproduce at a geometrical rate, then soon this society will need to distribute a similar amount of food among double the number of people. Similarly, with additional people and the same number of jobs, the price of labor will decrease while the price of provisions will increase. People will become increasingly poor and must labor harder to earn the same amount. When distress is this acute, the difficulty of rearing a family is so great the population ceases to grow. Only when the economic situation improves and living conditions become comfortable will the restraint on population loosen and people live in happiness once again.
This oscillation between population growth in times of happiness and stagnation in times of misery has always been present, yet Malthus does not believe it has been explored in depth. This is because history mainly records the lives of the higher classes. Without extensive data on the ratio of marriages to the number of adults, the rate of celibacy, the difference in infant mortality between the lower and higher classes, the fluctuation of the price of labor to inflation, and the living conditions of the lower classes, experts overlooked the fundamental factors that drove population growth.
In sum, Chapter 2 principally argues three points: first, that population cannot increase without a proportional increase in the means of subsistence; second, that population inevitably increases when there is an abundance of food; and finally, that this exponential growth in population can only be checked by producing misery or vice.
Chapters 1-2 Analysis
The first two chapters lay down the foundation for Malthus’s population theory. Chapter 1 introduces the relevant philosophical figures and discussion topics that prompted Malthus’s interest in this subject. It can be used as a survey of the historiography of the time and allows readers to glimpse the relevant authorities that influenced Malthus’s writing. Additionally, it clearly demonstrates the author’s perspective on the issue of scientific inquiry. Contrary to both conservative and progressive thinkers who, according to Malthus, are engrossed in petty fights about the attractiveness of their respective political outlooks, he hopes to return to the roots of philosophical reasoning, which values the search for truth above all else. This methodology made him realize that the power of population is always superior to the power of production.
In Chapter 2, Malthus delves deeper into the particulars of his theory. Bringing in statistics on the growth of population in America, he declares that a society can explode in number if given enough resources. However, once he envisions a scenario in which population doubles every 25 years, as America has been proven to do, he realizes food production cannot possibly keep up. Malthus concludes that once a population inevitably exceeds its capacity to support itself, it will be plagued with misery, and a higher rate of mortality will increase to bring their numbers down. These factors that limit growth are called population checks. A quick glimpse at history reveals that humankind has always oscillated between these two states of growth and decline. These two chapters combined set the stage for Malthus’s reasoning. Neither contain much hard data, primarily relying on speculation as evidence.
