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托马斯·马尔萨斯:人口论·摘录 114
托马斯·马尔萨斯《人口论》· An Essay on the Principle of Population · 投资
I am sufficiently aware that the redundant twenty-eight millions, or seventy-seven millions, that I have mentioned, could never have existed. It is a perfectly just observation of Mr Godwin, that, 'There is a principle in human society, by which population is perpetually kept down to the level of the means of subsistence.' The sole question is, what is this principle? is it some obscure and occult cause? Is it some mysterious interference of heaven which, at a certain period, strikes the men with impotence, and the women with barrenness? Or is it a cause, open to our researches, within our view, a cause, which has constantly been observed to operate, though with varied force, in every state in which man has been placed? Is it not a degree of misery, the necessary and inevitable result of the laws of nature, which human institutions, so far from aggravating, have tended considerably to mitigate, though they never can remove?
出处:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4239
定位:Excerpt 114 · 核对日期:2026-10-19 · 核验:短摘录
白话
马尔萨斯承认,他之前提到的多出来的两千八百万或七千七百万人,当然不可能真的存在过。他引用葛德文的话说,人类社会确实有一种力量,总把人口压到勉强维持生存的水平。关键问题是:这种力量到底是什么?是某种神秘的天意,让人突然失去生育能力吗?还是说,它其实是我们能观察、能研究的自然原因?马尔萨斯认为,这个原因就是苦难和贫困,是自然法则不可避免的结果。而人类制度非但没有加重它,反而一直在设法减轻它,尽管永远无法彻底消除。
上下文
出自马尔萨斯《人口论》第一版(1798年)。他正与葛德文辩论,反驳乌托邦式的无限进步论,强调人口增长受生存资料限制。
今日一问
今天面对资源紧张,我们更愿意把问题归咎于神秘命运,还是去研究那些可观察、可改变的现实约束?
公版作品;原文逐字取自 Project Gutenberg,仅摘录段落并附全书链接。
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