马尔萨斯济贫思想的客观评判及其启示

Objective Evaluation and Enlightenment of Malthus's Poor Relief Thought

马尔萨斯《人口论》的出版距今已有200多年的历史,其提出的人口理论备受争议,更因反对当时英国社会实施的《济贫法》而备受人们指责。但是细读马尔萨斯的著作,发现其反对济贫法的根本原因是当时的济贫制度本身存在的诸多问题,不仅对缓解贫困不利,而且可能会制造更多的穷人,因此,他主张实施一种缓和的救助政策。他的某些主张对解决目前社会上出现的劳动者贫困阶层问题,制定和完善社会救助政策,更具有积极的借鉴意义。

Malthus’s ＂An Essay on the Principle of Population＂has been published for more than 200 years,the population theory he proposed has been a subjeet of controversy,and he was blamed for his opposition to the implementation of the ＂Poor Law＂in England.But careful reading of Molthus will bring the finding that the root cause of his opposition lied in the problems of the poor relief system itself,which was not only unfavorable for alleviating poverty,but also might produce more poor people.Therefore,he advocated implementing a moderate relief policy.For the purpose of solving the problem of the working impoverished in the current society,formulating and improving the social assistance policies,some of his ideas are of active reference significance.