
audiobook
FRUITS OF PHILOSOPHY - A TREATISE ON THE POPULATION QUESTION
By Charles Knowlton
PUBLISHERS' PREFACE.
PHILOSOPHICAL PROEM
FRUITS OF PHILOSOPHY.
CHAPTER I. TO LIMIT AT WILL THE NUMBER OF THEIR OFFSPRING
CHAPTER II. ON GENERATION
CHAPTER III. OF PROMOTING AND CHECKING CONCEPTION
CHAPTER IV. REMARKS ON THE REPRODUCTIVE INSTINCT
APPENDIX
Set against a backdrop of Victorian censorship and fierce debate over personal liberty, this treatise dives into the practical and moral questions surrounding family size. Written by a physician who blends medical insight with radical social theory, it argues that population control is essential for individual wellbeing and societal progress, urging readers to consider how birth‑limiting methods could reshape lives.
Beyond the science, the pamphlet examines the right to open discussion, chronicling the long history of its suppression and the activists who fought to keep it in circulation. Its original prose has been carefully refreshed, with modern footnotes that guide listeners toward deeper study, while preserving the provocative spirit that sparked controversy in its day. Engaging and thought‑provoking, the work invites listeners to weigh philosophy, health, and freedom in a conversation that still echoes today.
Language
en
Duration
~2 hours (123K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by David Widger
Release date
2011-12-01
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1800–1850
A Massachusetts doctor with a stubborn independent streak, he became one of the earliest American writers to discuss birth control openly. His small 1832 book stirred legal trouble in its own time and went on to influence much larger public debates about reproductive knowledge.
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