ABSTRACT
[Although, for reasons of space, I have omitted a few passages, those selected present a balanced picture of Bentham's ontology, especially of his theory of reality and fiction which he considered to be the basis of his moral and political theory, Bentham has drawn a thin line over the first few sentences (from 'An entity ...' to '... really meant to be ascribed'), but he had not crossed them out. Strictly speaking, perhaps, these few sentences should have been omitted. However, as they form a necessary introduction to his ontology and express his basic ideas crisply and accurately, they have been included here. Incidentally, Bowring retains them as well.]
