Malthus's Claims Not Based on Scientific Data

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 inconsistencies. 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 entirely on presupposition.

2) Nor did Malthus possess any data with which to calculate 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 contradictory in itself. He suggested that populations increased geometrically. 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 according to prevailing circumstances. The entire ecosystem, humans included, exists within a most balanced equilibrium. The self-evident order in nature is a long way from “Eat or be eaten,” the so-called struggle for survival proposed by Malthus and Darwin.

In short, Malthus's erroneous and illogical claims rest on no scientific foundations whatsoever. Yet Darwin constructed his theory of evolution on Malthus's conjectures.