Malthus' Imprint on Darwin's Natural Selection

Thomas Malthus and his theory regarding the Principle of Population have arguably had the most influential effect on Charles Darwin. Darwin has even noted Malthus in his writings, The Variations Of Animals and Plants under Domestication where he states ‘...I saw, on reading Malthus on Population, that natural selection was the inevitable result of the rapid increase of all organic beings...’. Here he took the basic concept of Malthus’ theory and used it as the foundation for his Natural Selection Theory. By expanding on Malthus’ principle, Darwin found the underlying motive of evolution through natural selection, which is the biological need to compete in our species, as in others.

In 1798, ordained minister and economist, Thomas Malthus published his theory in pamphlet form, Essay On The Principle Of Population, where he argued that the natural food supply available would not support the rapid growth rate of our population. Malthus explained that human population would increase two times fold and described it mathematically as follows (1,2,4,16,32,64,128,256…), whereas agricultural growth would only increase as (1,2,3,4,5,6,7…). The obvious problem here lies within our biological need to reproduce not being in sync with the amount of food supplies necessary to sustain this growth. His Christian background merged with his scientific theory with the presentation of his ‘positive checks’ which he described as starvation and diseases, which were God implemented, in order to maintain population control.

http://geography.about.com/od/populationgeography/a/malthus.htm

This precise theory is what Darwin needed to explain the reasoning behind interspecies competition. The limited resources available encourage healthy struggles among members of the same species, where the more able specimens secure better access to these resources. This enables them to reproduce with other successful specimens of the same species. The pairing of these two organisms and their beneficial traits, produce these offspring of shared genetic material, who then have even higher chances to access limited resources. Over time and generations of selective breeding, passing down beneficial genetic traits, the species as a whole will have evolved into organisms better adapted to their environment.

Darwin could have not developed his theory of Natural Selection without the basis of meaningful competition that Malthus’ Principles of Population theory provided. From Malthus’ theory, Darwin concluded that through the fight for survival, the best equipped organisms would survive and those less environmentally adaptive would eventually die out as they would be unable to thrive attaining necessary resources nor reproducing. Therefore, only the specimens with these advantageous traits would flourish and reproduce which is the basis of Darwin’s Natural Selection theory.

During the time period of Darwin and the progression of his Natural Selection Theory, it was well understood that God created the world and all of its creatures within 7 days, as the Bible professes. Darwin’s controversial concept in, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, suggested that man was comparable to any other animal (not superior in design, origin or meaning) and a creation of evolution, even worse a possible outcome of the evolution of apes. Such an idea went against all conventional thinking at the time and questioned the foundation on which the Bible is based, the creation of man by God. His theory was met with huge attacks from the Church, which was a partial reason for the prolonged release of his studies. In time, Darwin’s theory gained regard within unorthodox groups such as atheist and certain publications like The Times.

Charles Darwin’s contribution to the world of science is vast and immeasurable, but one must give credit where credit is due and without the influence of Thomas Malthus and his Principle of Population, the Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection might have not come to be.