Malthus and Pope : －From the Perspective of the Chain of Being－

[出版社版]This article presents the view that Malthus’ theodicy was under the influence of eighteenthcentury optimism, which originated with William King and widely spread during the century. The philosophical optimists and Malthus asserted the necessity of evils and sacrificed God’s omnipotence rather than His goodness. The optimistic thesis provided the philosophical content of Pope’s Essay on Man. Malthus cited two passages from Pope’s Essay in the last two chapters of his first Essay on Population. These two Essays have a lot in common; for example, emphases on general laws, partial evils and diversity in nature, positive views of self-love and passions and so on