Jeremy Bentham's principle of utility and alternatives to it

2020

The Jurisprudential theory of Jeremy Bentham, though have been considered way too old, especially in the socialist countries the Theory of Utility, might have been disregarded as unacceptable on the grounds that only the thoughts about pain and pleasure might not be the sole interest of the country. The country’s welfare might not be measured in the quantum of happiness to majority and grief and pain to minorities. However, it cannot be totally waived and be done away with. For how can social welfare legislations be not measured on the quantum of maximum pleasure and minimum pain? The essence of Bentham’s theory and his philosophy is retained by the world even in today’s modern day legislation. It is human nature to take a step forward when he can measure the risk and the gain of that direction. Thereby the modern day man is much more a hedonistic calculus. This research aims at reflecting the various juncture whereby the modern day legislations, directives, judgments and policies d...

Utilitas, 2006

The basic concept of Bentham's moral and political philosophy was public utility. He linked it directly with the concept of the universal interest, which comprises a distinctive partnership of the interests of all members of the community. The ultimate end of government and aim of all of morality is 'the advancement of the universal interest'. This essay articulates the structure of Bentham's notion of universal interest and locates it in his theory of value. In the whole moral sphere. .. there is nothing more glorious nor of wider range than the solidarity of mankind, that species of alliance and partnership of interests [societas et communicatio utilitatum] and that actual affection which exists between man and man. .. [which] is termed Justice. Cicero, De Finibus, V. 65 In all determinations of morality, this circumstance of public utility is ever principally in view; and wherever disputes arise, either in philosophy or common life, concerning the bounds of duty, the question cannot, by any means, be decided with greater certainty, than by ascertaining, on any side, the true interests of mankind. Hume, Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, 2.17

Canadian Journal of Political Science, 1996

There is a long-standing divergence between scholars of utilitarianism which centres on decidedly different interpretations of the thought of Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832).' No doubt the sheer wealth of material that constitutes Bentham's corpus encourages contending views of his thought. However, in large measure these interpretations result from the emphases placed by commentators on different writings and on different elements within his utilitarianism. At the risk of disservice to particular commentators, the dispute over Bentham's thought can be reduced to two schools of analysis-here labelled "authoritarian" and "individualist." Most contemporary commentators can be located within one or other of the two camps. The "authoritarian" school comprises commentators who stress illiberal tendencies in his thought. They tend to describe his general philosophy in terms of a principled or * For valuable comments on earlier drafts of this article the author thanks Margaret Moore, Larry Johnson, Douglas G. Long, Paul Kelly and the anonymous reviewers of the JOURNAL. 1 Though the terms of discussion have altered considerably in the decades since, the debate can be said to have originated in Elie HaleVy's magisterial study, The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism [La Formation du radicalisme philosophique, 1901-4], trans, by M. Morris (1928; Clifton, N.J.: Augustus M. Kelley, 1972), esp. 17-18. HaleVy outlined a tension in Bentham's utilitarianism between "the principle of the artificial identification of interests" and "the principle of the natural identity of interests."

Utility, Publicity, and Law

Equality lies at the heart of Bentham’s theory of value, and hence at the core of his utilitarian moral and political theory.The thesis of this chapter is that a proper understanding of the foundational role of equality in Bentham’s moral and political theory will give us further insight into his distinctive theory of value. Equality was not merely an ad hoc addition to his principle of utility, undermining the coherence of the entire theory, as critics have charged. Rather, Bentham thought of equality as involved in the very meaning of the principle, as Mill put it. This equality-sensitive principle of utility draws on a person-regarding conception of value that recognizes the equal claim that each person’s well-being has on our moral attention. This conception of value that contrasts sharply with the one standardly attributed to classical utilitarians.

Jeremy Bentham was a British legal scholar, social philosopher, linguist, political activist and more importantly the founder of "Utilitarianism". He was educated at Westminster school and Queen's College, Oxford. He trained as a lawyer and was called to bar in 1769. According to his contemporary William Hazlit, ""Bentham has lived for the last forty years in a house in Westminster...like an anchorite in a cell, reducing law to a system, and the mind of man to a machine." 1 He was a child prodigy, reaffirmed by his joining at the Oxford University at the age of twelve 2. He is regarded as the founder of Positivism and was Austin's Intellectual Godfather. Bentham launched his career as a legal theorist in 1776 with the anonymously published work "A Fragment on Government", though published later in 20 th century only, which was an attack on Blackstone's popular "Commentaries on the Laws of England". He had attended the lectures of Blackstone in Oxford during 1763-1764 and was not satisfied. Jeremy Bentham and Utilitarianism The Modern doctrine of sovereignty derived from two lines of development which heralded the end of the medieval period, first being the rise of the new national states anxious to assert their total independence and the other being the departure from medieval idea of law as being fundamentally custom, and legislation as merely a form of declaring the existence of new customs 3. There was rise of the positive law, which regarded law as separate from morals, although it might correspond in many aspects and be subject to their influence 4. Utilitarianism is a moral theory that argues that action should be judged right or wrong to the extent they increase or decrease human well-being or 'utility'. Bentham was influenced by both Hobbes' account of human nature and Hume's account of social utility 5. Hume asserted that the only utility could supply the answer if some scientific or rational

2019

The paper is structured argumentation through constructive scholarly analysis on John Finnis’ concept of basic universal values, in comparison with Bentham’s theory of utilitarianism