George Ensor | |
|---|---|
 George Ensor by John Comerford | |
| Born | 17 December 1769 |
| Died | 3 December 1843 |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Alma mater | Trinity College Dublin |
| Occupation | Barrister |
| Notable work | An Inquiry Concerning the Population of Nations containing a Refutation of Mr. Malthus's Essay on Population (1818). Of Property and of its Equal Distribution as Promoting Virtue, Population, Abundance (1844) |
George Ensor J.P. (17 December 1769 – 3 December 1843) was an Irish lawyer, radical political pamphleteer and freethinker. Among other conservative precepts, he pilloried the Malthusian doctrine that poverty is sustained by the "disposition to breed". As a hindrance to enterprise and prosperity, he pointed rather to the tyranny of concentrated wealth. In Ireland, it was a condition he believed could be reversed only through popular representation in a restored parliament. Ensor further outraged prevailing opinion by inveighing against the constitutional ascendancy not merely (as a supporter of Catholic emancipation) of Protestantism, but more broadly of the Christian religion. He argued that questions of morality and social justice cannot be addressed within a theology of salvation through faith.