A Rereading Of An Essay On The Principle Of Population By Malthus

"An Essay on the Principle of Population"by Malthus has been published for more 200 years, disputed widely, the scholars and experts have different opinions about it. This paper is to study the life and the background of Malthus, especially try to analyze his book and appraise his"principle of population".Malthus lived in the age of politics tendency was conservatism seriously, the Industrial Revolution promoted the production huge progress, the gap between rich and poor increased, the social relief was no much use, the population question became especially prominent. In the influence of French Revolution and his relatives and friends and the many scholars, Malthus wrote his"An Essay on the Principle of Population". Leaded by the philosophy of utilitarianism, Malthus had pondered the reason the of the working class impoverished, Landlord class's stand made him think that the condition the working class was created by oneself. The author also mentioned the Chinese population question, the exchange between Occidental and orient was scarce at that time. Malthus's appraisal seems especially valuable. The times and the class stand leaded Malthus's analysis was simple and superficial, but he had beyond the prejudice of the western intellectual to China, realized the Chinese population question is serious.For the standpoint of Landlord class, Malthus couldn't find the fundamental reason of the population question, but this book has affected the demography, the biology, the economic and many other domains, has important status in the history of learning.