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•Robert Malthus (1766-1834) foreshadowed evolution theory with his study of populations. Since humans can double their numbers at least once in twenty-five years, and since the supply of food can only increase in arithmetical ratio, it naturally follows that increase of population must always be checked by lack of food. But, except in cases of famine, this check is never operative, and control of population growth is due to 'moral restraint, vice, and misery'. The constant increase in population beyond the means of subsistence, drives down wages, increases the price of food, and has the effect of lowering the marriage and birth rates. This situation in turn stimulates renewed agricultural enterprise, increasing the means of subsistence. This swells the marriage and birth rates, raising the population, once again provoking a shortage of food, and so on. There are limits beyond which no population can be varied by breeding, and so the human race will not progress towards a perfect state but will be trapped in this cycle. When Darwin later came to formulate his theory, he was strongly influenced by this argument, but reached an opposite conclusion from it. Malthus believed that the only solution to population pressures on resources was moral restraint, which was also a Christian duty. Darwin, by contrast, concluded that the struggle for existence would enable the fittest to survive and produce a continual progression of improving species. He thus used Malthus's idea to point to conclusions almost the reverse of those which Malthus himself advocated.
(from http://origins.swau.edu/bible/development.html)
I don't quite understand Malthus's theory, but I know how Darwin used it to form an opposite conclusion. Is Malthus's theory significant in the historical development of the theory of evolution? Do I need to learn it for this dot point?
"Analyse information from secondary sources on the historical development of theories of evolution and use available evidence to assess social and political influences on these developments"
Any help will be greatly appreciated!
(from http://origins.swau.edu/bible/development.html)
I don't quite understand Malthus's theory, but I know how Darwin used it to form an opposite conclusion. Is Malthus's theory significant in the historical development of the theory of evolution? Do I need to learn it for this dot point?
"Analyse information from secondary sources on the historical development of theories of evolution and use available evidence to assess social and political influences on these developments"
Any help will be greatly appreciated!