Question

What was Malthus influence on the emergence of the theory of evolution by natural selection

Answer 1

Thomas Malthus is most famous for his essay on the Principles of population.In this essay he proposed that both human and animal population grows at an exponential rate.Population grows through repeated multiplication.At the same time he stated that food supplies grow at a arithmatic rate,ie by repeated additions.This means population will grow at an faster rate than food supplies.Malthus believed that famine and disease were natural consequences of population increase.Malthus opinions regarding struggle to survive ,helped Charles Darwin in his theory of natural selection.Darwin postulated that population-food Imbalance postulated by Malthus would lead to competition between offsprings.He considered some of the offsprings would be better equipped for struggle than others.Thus survival of fittest became Central theme to darwins developing theories.