Darwin the Malthusian — The History of Ruthlessness, from Malthus to Darwin

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Malthus's distorted logic was also applied to children, many of whom were forced to work under very harsh conditions.

In his autobiography, Darwin wrote:

In October 1838, that is fifteen months after I had begun my systematic enquiry, I happened to read for amusement Malthus on Population, and being well prepared to appreciate the struggle for existence that everywhere goes on from long-continued observation of the habits of animals and plants, it at once struck me that under these circumstances, favourable variations would tend to be preserved and unfavourable ones to be destroyed. The result of this would be the formation of new species. Here, then, Ihad at last got a theory by which to work...¹²

The concepts of evolution by natural selection and the struggle for survival took shape in Darwin's mind after reading Malthus. In The Origin of Species Darwin admitted that he had fully accepted Malthus's claims:

There is no exception to the rule that every organic being naturally increases at so high a rate, that, if not destroyed, the earth would soon be covered by the progeny of a single pair. Even slow-breeding man has doubled in twenty-five years, and at this rate, in less than a thousand years, there would literally not be standing-room for his progeny.¹³

Darwin described the relationship between Malthus's theory and the thesis of natural selection thus:

As more individuals are produced than can possibly survive, there must in every case be a struggle for existence, either one individual with another of the same species, or with the individuals of distinct species, or with the physical conditions of life. It is the doctrine of Malthus applied with manifold force to the whole animal and vegetable kingdoms.¹⁴

These ideas of Darwin's, which found support in the twisted thinking of Malthus, possess no scientific value. Moreover, this cruel perspective maintains that population planning can be ensured by eliminating the weak and poor, and preaches that the weak need to be destroyed. Regarding life not as based on peace, security and understanding, but as a matter of mere survival necessitating a ruthless struggle, it inflicted the most terrible catastrophes on societies.

References

Sir Gavin de Beer, Charles Darwin, London : Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1963. ↩
C. Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, London, 1859, 2nd edition 1964, Cambridge:Harvard University Press, p. 64. ↩
Ibid. ↩