PHIL 1F91 Lecture : Macheville, Hobbes, Johnson, Condorcet, & Humboldt
19 Apr 2012
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Document Summary
3 of the most contentious terms in the english language. They emerge in the period from the [italian] renaissance to the french revolution. That is why i am reverting to chronological order for the last 4-5 theories of human nature in the malthusian era. Chronologically it is the long, long period of human prehistory and history until cir. Intellectually it is a period of pessimism based on very good reasons. It was a period in which life expectancy was very low and rates of poverty very high. Robert thomas malthus wrote and rewrote the book that made him both famous and infamous explaining why population would always outstrip our ability to feed people. He was the main target of charles dickens"s a christmas carol: scrooge personifies. Prior to the 18th century there were few reasons to be optimistic about human beings and the possibility of human progress. Only after 1800 did such optimism become reasonable.
