 Malthus, Medicine and Morality: Malthusianism after 1798. Edited by Brian Dolan. Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi, 2000. Pp. 232. $53.00Greta Jones The Journal of Economic History, 2001, vol. 61, issue 2, 584-585 Abstract: Malthus, Medicine and Morality is a collection of essays marking the bicentenary of the publication of Thomas Robert Malthus's Essay on the Principle of Population in 1798. They vary considerably in subject matter, as is inevitable given the nature of Malthus's work. The Essay managed to be both a scientific investigation into demographic history and an intervention into the political debates on the French Revolution. It built its argument on a particular theory of mind and human behavior. Because it linked wealth and poverty to population, the Essay became part of the political economy of the time. Malthus gave his name, though not his imprimatur, to the birth-control movement in the nineteenth century. Not only were the Essay's arguments widely and approvingly quoted at the time, they also provoked a resolutely anti-Malthusian current of thought. Though the Essay's argument is apparently simple, this obscures a wealth of ambiguity and dense argumentation in the text, made more so by the constant revisions Malthus carried out for subsequent editions. What this collection does is to begin to deconstruct Malthus and unravel all the various elements that make up the phenomenon of “Malthusianism.” Date: 2001 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cup:jechis:v:61:y:2001:i:02:p:584-585_54 Access Statistics for this article More articles in The Journal of Economic History from Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press, UPH, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8BS UK. |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.