sentences:  He was a founder member (and eventually President) of the Leeds Literary and Philosophical Society, and in 1825 delivered there a course of lectures on the Poor Laws.He disagreed strongly with the orthodox authorities of the age on economics and poverty such as David Ricardo and Malthus, believing that their views tended to a destruction of traditional society.As for his own views on these topics, he told a political dinner in 1826 " I .. simply sum them up in these terms, namely