What did Malthuss work tell Darwin?
Thomas Malthus's work, particularly his essay on the principle of population, significantly influenced Charles Darwin's thinking about natural selection. Malthus argued that populations grow exponentially while resources grow arithmetically, leading to competition for limited resources. This concept of struggle for existence resonated with Darwin, as it provided a framework for understanding how only those individuals best adapted to their environment would survive and reproduce. Thus, Malthus's ideas helped shape Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.