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The Classical Foundations of Population Thought

From Plato to Quesnay

  • Book
  • © 2011

Overview

Authors:
  1. Yves Charbit

    1. UMR, Centre Population et Développement, Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France

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  • Focuses on early thought being essentially “population” related rather than “demographic”
  • Innovative epistemological approach
  • Interdisciplinary analysis
  • In-depth historical contextualization

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Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-vii
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  2. Interpreting Ideas on Population

    • Yves Charbit
    Pages 1-12

  3. History and Utopia

    • Yves Charbit
    Pages 13-41

  4. There Are No Riches Other Than Men

    • Yves Charbit
    Pages 43-62

  5. The Prince and His Population

    • Yves Charbit
    Pages 63-113

  6. The Political Failure of an Economic Theory

    • Yves Charbit
    Pages 115-141

  7. Towards Demography

    • Yves Charbit
    Pages 143-162

  8. Back Matter

    Pages 163-179
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Keywords

About this book

Whereas the history of demography as a social science has been amply explored, that of the construction of the concept of population has been neglected. Specialists systematically ignore a noteworthy paradox: strictly speaking, the great intellectual figures of the past dealt with in this book have not produced demographic theories or doctrines as such, but they have certainly given some thought to population at both levels. First, the central epistemological and methodological orientation of the book is presented. Ideas on population, far from being part of the harmonious advancement of knowledge are the product of their context, that is evidently demographic, but also economic, political and above all intellectual. Then the ideas on population of Plato, Bodin, the French mercantilists, Quesnay and the physiocrats are examined under this light. The last chapter addresses the implicit philosophical, economic and political issues of population thought.

Reviews

From the reviews:

“Charbit’s interesting book offers an anti-mythology, an archaeology of past ideas about population that questions and undermines the traditional teleological accounts. … This is a learned book that offers intelligent contextualizing readings of some key texts of early modern political and economic thought, and uses these to make an important point about the conventional teleological narratives of the development of demography as a discipline. As someone who is interested in all these things, I found it informative and illuminating … .” (Neville Morley, Population Studies, Vol. 66 (3), November, 2012)

Authors and Affiliations

  • UMR, Centre Population et Développement, Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France

    Yves Charbit

About the author

Born 1945. Professor of demography (classe exceptionnelle) Université Paris Descartes Training : MA Sociology and MA Economics ( Sorbonne), Diploma Sciences Po (Paris) D.Phil. Oxford, Doctorat es-Lettres (Paris). Chair of the Scientific Board of the Faculty of Social Sciences. Member of the Strategic comittee at the University level. Director of the Centre Population et Développement (CEPED, Université Paris Descartes, l’INED et l’IRD). 44 full-time teaching and research staff Published 17 books, 62 peer reviewed articles, etc. on international migrations, population theories and doctrines, family and fertility) Founding member of the the Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales. Chief editor of the series Populations (L'Harmattan). Chief editor of Demographic Transformation and Socio-Economic Change (Springer) Worked as a consultant for UNFPA UNDP, UNICEF, USAID, World Bank, Coopération française, UNESCO. Field experience in several African, Carribean and South-East Asian countries.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Classical Foundations of Population Thought

  • Book Subtitle: From Plato to Quesnay

  • Authors: Yves Charbit

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9298-4

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-90-481-9297-7Published: 17 September 2010

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-94-017-8327-9Published: 21 November 2014

  • eBook ISBN: 978-90-481-9298-4Published: 25 August 2010

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: VII, 179

  • Topics: Demography, Classical Philosophy

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