MELBOURNE – In 1809, Jeremy Bentham, the founder of utilitarianism, set to work on The Book of Fallacies. His goal was to expose the fallacious arguments used to block reforms like the abolition of “rotten boroughs” – electorates with so few electors that a powerful lord or landowner could effectively select the member of parliament, while newer cities like Manchester remained unrepresented.
墨尔本—1809年，功利主义（utilitarianism）创始人边沁开始写作《谬误集》（The Book of Fallacies）。他的目标是揭露用来阻挠改革的谬误论调，比如取消“腐败选区”（即选民太少以致于强大的贵族或地主能轻松当选为国会议员，而曼彻斯特等新兴城市则无法在议会中得到代表。