THE CLASSICAL FOUNDATIONS OF POPULATION THOUGHT: FROM PLATO TO QUESNAY

This book explores the often-overlooked history of the construction of the concept of population, focusing on the intellectual history behind demographic theories and doctrines. While the history of demography as a social science has been extensively studied, the evolution of population thought has been systematically neglected. The great intellectual figures of the past did not necessarily produce demographic theories in the modern sense, but their ideas on population shaped much of demographic thinking today.

The book opens with an epistemological and methodological discussion, illustrating how ideas about population are not part of a linear progression of knowledge but are deeply influenced by the social, economic, political, and intellectual contexts of their time. It then examines the thoughts on population of key figures such as Plato, Bodin, the French mercantilists, Quesnay, and the physiocrats, all of whom contributed to the intellectual framework surrounding population ideas. The final chapter delves into the implicit philosophical, economic, and political dimensions of population theory, setting the stage for the development of demography as we know it.