J E R E M Y B E N T H AM

The Principles of Morals and Legislation

Bentham was born in Spitalfields, London on 15 February 1748, the

son of a wealthy Tory attorney. He was a child prodigy and was supposedly
found as a toddler sitting at his father's desk reading a multi-volume history
of England, and began his study of Latin at the age of three. He went
to Westminster School, and in 1760 (at the age of 12) his father sent him
to Queen's College, Oxford, where he took his Bachelor's degree in 1763
and his Master's degree in 1766. He trained as a lawyer at Lincoln's Inn,
London, and was called to the bar in 1769 (although he never actually
practised).

He soon became disillusioned with the law, however, and he threw off
his early Conservative political views after reading the work of the 18th
Century British theologian and natural philosopher Joseph Priestley (1733 -
1804). He gained much attention when his first major work, "A Fragment on
Government" of 1776, criticized the leading legal theorist in 18th Century
I. I NTRODUCTION England, Sir William Blackstone (1773 - 1780), and, in the wake of this
JEREMY BENTHAMS
publication, he became friends with the powerful Lord Shelburne (1737 -
LIFE AND WORKS
1805), which allowed him to take time to travel and to write. Among his
early followers were the economist David Ricardo (1772 - 1823),
and Robert Owen (1771 - 1858), the Welsh social reformer and one of the
founders of Socialism and the cooperative movement.

Bentham was a regular correspondent with the French Comte de

Mirabeau (1749 - 1791), a moderate during the French Revolution of 1789 -
1799, although he was an outspoken critic of the revolutionary discourse
of natural rights (the concept of a universal right inherent in the nature of
living beings, that is not contingent upon laws or beliefs), and of the
violence which arose after the Jacobins took power in 1792. He also had
a personal friendship with the Latin American independence
precursor Francisco de Miranda (1750 - 1816), and carried on a mutually
 beneficial correspondence with the pioneering political economist Adam
Smith.

In about 1808, he met James Mill (1773 - 1836), who was to become his
secretary and main collaborator, and together they co-founded
the "Westminster Review" in 1823 as a journal for a group of younger
disciples who became known as the "philosophical radicals" (contributors to
the journal included Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Thomas
Carlyle). Mill, and his son, John Stuart Mill, became Bentham's most
committed students, and were largely responsible
for popularizing Bentham's vision and in particular his theory
of Utilitarianism. Bentham tended to write in a rather complex style himself,
and other radical reformers such as Sir Francis Burdett (1770 - 1844), Leigh
Hunt (1784 - 1859), William Cobbett (1763 - 1835) and Henry
Brougham (1778 - 1868) attempted to communicate his ideas to the working
class.

Jeremy Bentham died on 6 June 1832 in his native London and, as requested
in his will, his body was preserved and stored in a wooden cabinet, which he
called his "Auto-Icon", and which is still kept on display at University
College, London.

II. D I S C U S S I O N AN D C R I T I C AL AN ALYS I S

As Elie Halvy (1904) notes, there are three

principal characteristics of which constitute the basis of
Bentham's moral and political philosophy: (i) the
greatest happiness principle, (ii) universal egoism and THE PRINCIPLES OF MORALS
AND LEGISLATION
(iii) the artificial identification of one's interests with
those of others. Though these characteristics are present
throughout his work, they are particularly evident in
the Introduction to the Principles of Morals and
Legislation, where Bentham is concerned with
articulating rational principles that would provide a
basis and guide for legal, social and moral reform.

THE PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY
THE GREATEST HAPPINESS
PRINCIPLE
To begin with, Bentham's moral philosophy reflects what he calls
at different times "the greatest happiness principle" or "the principle of
utility"a term which he borrows from Hume. In adverting to this
principle, however, he was not referring to just the usefulness of things
or actions, but to the extent to which these things or actions promote
the general happiness. Specifically, then, what is morally obligatory is
that which produces the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest
number of people, happiness being determined by reference to the
presence of pleasure and the absence of pain. Thus, Bentham writes,
"By the principle of utility is meant that principle which approves or
disapproves of every action whatsoever, according to the tendency
which it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness of the
party whose interest is in question: or, what is the same thing in other
words, to promote or to oppose that happiness." And Bentham
emphasizes that this applies to "every action whatsoever". That which
does not maximize the greatest happiness (such as an act of pure
ascetic sacrifice) is, therefore, morally wrong. (Unlike some of the
previous attempts at articulating a universal hedonism, Bentham's
approach is thoroughly naturalistic.)

III. CO NC LU S I ON

Bentham's moral philosophy, then, clearly reflects his psychological view that the primary
motivators in human beings are pleasure and pain. Bentham admits that his version of the principle
of utility is something that does not admit of direct proof, but he notes that this is not a problem as
some explanatory principles do not admit of any such proof and all explanation must start
somewhere. But this, by itself, does not explain why another's happinessor the general happiness
should count. And, in fact, he provides a number of suggestions that could serve as answers to the
question of why we should be concerned with the happiness of others.
First, Bentham says, the principle of utility is
something to which individuals, in acting, refer
either explicitly or implicitly, and this is
something that can be ascertained and confirmed
 by simple observation. Indeed, Bentham held that
all existing systems of morality can be "reduced
to the principles of sympathy and antipathy,"
which is precisely that which defines utility. For Bentham, then, there is
no inconsistency between
A second argument found in Bentham is that, the greatest happiness
if pleasure is the good, then it is good irrespective principle and his
of whose pleasure it is. Thus, a moral injunction psychological hedonism and
egoism. Thus, he writes that
to pursue or maximize pleasure has force moral philosophy or ethics
independently of the specific interests of the can be simply described as
person acting. Bentham also suggests that the art of directing mens
actions to the production of
individuals would reasonably seek the general
the greatest possible
happiness simply because the interests of others quantity of happiness, on the
are inextricably bound up with their own, though part of those whose interest
is in view.
he recognized that this is something that is easy
for individuals to ignore.

IV. B I B LI O G RAPH Y

Driver, J. The History of Utilitarianism. Retrieved from

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/utilitarianism-history/

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosoph. Retrieved from

http://www.iep.utm.edu/bentham/

Jeremy Bentham, "Happiness Is the Greatest Good".

Retrieved from http://philosophy.lander.edu/ethics/notes-
bentham.html
MODERN POLITICAL
THEORIES
 REPORT TOPIC:
JEREMY BENTHAM

Prepared by:
201512752 Evaristo, Anne Mialie P.

201625641 Gumba, Shaine Eve M.

201510299 Tapia, Princess Mae L.