meliorism 的詞源

作爲一個形而上學的概念，“相信世界趨向變得更好或有改善的能力”； 在實際應用中，“通過規範的實際手段改善社會”； 到1868年，被歸屬於“喬治·艾略特”（瑪麗·安·埃文斯），源自拉丁語 melior “更好”（參見 meliorate）+ -ism。相關詞彙： Meliorist（1835）； melioristic。

In her general attitude towards life, George Eliot was neither optimist nor pessimist. She held to the middle term, which she invented for herself, of "meliorist." She was cheered by the hope and by the belief in gradual improvement of the mass; for in her view each individual must find the better part of happiness in helping another. ["Life and Letters"]

在她對待生活的總體態度上，喬治·艾略特既不是樂觀主義者也不是悲觀主義者。她堅持自己發明的中間立場，“改良主義者”。她對大衆逐漸改善的希望和信念感到振奮； 因爲在她看來，每個人都必須在幫助他人中找到更好的幸福。[“生平和書信”]

I don't know that I ever heard anybody use the word "meliorist" except myself. But I begin to think that there is no good invention or discovery that has not been made by more than one person. The only good reason for referring to the "source" would be, that you found it useful for the doctrine of meliorism to cite one unfashionable confessor of it in the face of the fashionable extremes. ["George Eliot," letter to James Sully, Jan. 19, 1877]

我不知道除了我自己之外是否有人使用過“改良主義者”這個詞。但我開始認爲，沒有一個好的發明或發現是隻有一個人做出的。提到“來源”的唯一好理由是，你發現在時尚的極端面前，引用一個不時髦的信仰者來證明改良主義的教義是有用的。[“喬治·艾略特”，致詹姆斯·薩利的信，1877年1月19日]