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弗雷德里克·巴斯夏:经济诡辩·摘录 41

弗雷德里克·巴斯夏《经济诡辩》· Economic Sophisms · 投资

If it be argued that in practice they do not press their principle to its most extreme consequences, I willingly grant it. This is always the case when one sets out with a false principle. Such a principle soon leads to results so absurd and so mischievous that we are obliged to stop short. This is the reason why practical industry never admits _sisyphism_; punishment would follow error too closely not to expose it. But in matters of speculation, such as theorists and statesmen deal in, one may pursue a false principle a long time before discovering its falsity by the complicated consequences to which men were formerly strangers; and when at last its falsity is found out, the authors take refuge in the opposite principle, turn round, contradict themselves, and seek their justification in a modern maxim of incomparable absurdity: in political economy, there is no inflexible rule, no absolute principle.

出处: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44145
定位:Excerpt 41 · 核对日期:2026-10-19 · 核验:短摘录

白话

有人辩解说,实践中人们不会把错误原则推到极端,这我承认。但这是因为错误原则一旦付诸实践,恶果来得太快太明显,人不得不停手。可理论家和政客就不同了:他们推行错误原则,要等很久、经过复杂后果才暴露问题;等真相大白,他们不认错,反而跳到相反原则,自相矛盾,还拿一句荒唐话当挡箭牌:政治经济学没有铁律,没有绝对原则。巴斯夏指出,这等于放弃对错标准,让错误永远无法被追究。

上下文

巴斯夏是19世纪法国经济学家,《经济诡辩》用讽刺笔法批驳贸易保护主义等流行谬论,强调经济规律不可违背。

今日一问

你身边有没有人用“没有绝对原则”来回避自己主张带来的坏结果?

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