Page 48 - The Social Weapon: Darwinism

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and kept under control by war, hunger and poverty. The truth is,
though, that human beings are endowed with reason and com-

mon sense. They act in accordance with logic and their con-
science, not according to instincts, as animals do.

Malthus's Claims Not Based on
M a l t h u s ' s C l a i m s N o t B a s e d o n
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Malthus's theory received support from various circles at
the time, and also constituted the foundation of a number of
perverted ideologies and movements in the following century.
Yet it rests on no scientific foundations and is riddled with in-
consistencies. For example:
1) At the time Malthus wrote, there were no data regarding
population increases at his disposal. The first national census in
Great Britain was carried out in 1801, three years after Malthus
wrote his Essay. In any case, for Malthus to calculate the rate of
population growth, he would have needed statistics for years
previous to 1801. He therefore had no reliable statistics on which
to base a figure for that growth, and his claims were based en-
tirely on presupposition.

2) Nor did Malthus possess any data with which to calcu-
late the growth of food resources. At the time, there was no way
of calculating how much land was under cultivation, not how
many crops it produced. Again, he engaged in mere conjecture.
3) In any case, the law that Malthus proposed was contra-
dictory in itself. He suggested that populations increased geo-
metrically. In that case, animals and plant populations also
increased geometrically, and these two form the basis of human
life. In practice, however, animals, plants and human beings do
not multiply geometrically: Their rates of increase vary accord-
ing to prevailing circumstances. The entire ecosystem, humans

The Social Weapon: Darwinism