ABSTRACT
[Re] Malthus’ argument in the first edition of the Essay: Its weakness was quickly discovered by Godwin, who pointed out that the laboring class in civilized countries seemed to be maintaining itself at a level considerably above the minimum of existence without benefit of either the positive checks or the preventive checks. Malthus, realizing that he had trapped himself by denying the possibility of any rise in the standard of living quietly gave way in the second edition of the Essay by recognizing the existence of a new preventive check: “moral restraint.” He defined “moral restraint” as postponement of the age of marriage accompanied by strict sexual continence before marriage, and, while the other checks were frequently described as “misery and vice,” the new preventive check stood alone without any moral tag attached to it. For the first time, a hopeful note crept into the argument, although Malthus always remained profoundly pessimistic about 52the capacity of mankind to regulate its numbers by the exercise of prudential restraint. Few readers realized that he had really abandoned his original thesis and Malthus did nothing to help them appreciate the escape clause that had now been built into the doctrine.
