Malthus and Darwin

Frances Bolton (PHI) fbolton at chuma.cas.usf.edu
Sat Aug 15 08:16:12 PDT 1998



> > Isn't it interestng how Malthus struck a vain for both Marx and Darwin.
> > Regards.
> > Ed EVans

Rakesh responds:>
> I think Darwin's debt to Malthus is much exaggerated.

Hi Rakesh,

I'm away from my library so I can't get you the exact cite, but, in the *Origin of Species*, Darwin explicitly states that his theory is "Malthus as applied to natural selection" or something of the sort. Desmond and Moore, in their biography of Darwin (*Darwin*), also have a good bit on this. I'll send the Darwin quotation along tomorrow.

Frances



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