Jeremy Bentham

Michael Ginn

BUS MGMT 368

Drop Box 2

Jan, 17. 2006

Biography of Jeremy Bentham:

Before I begin to give you an autobiography of Jeremy Bentham, I would like give you this little supplement of the subject Right or Wrong i.e... Principle of Utility.

Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two supreme masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. On the one hand we have right and wrong, on the other we have the chain of causes and effects. They govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think: every effort we can make to throw off our weakness. In words, a man may pretend to reject their domain: but in reality he will remain subject to it all the while.

The principle of utility recognizes this subjection, and assumes it for the foundation of that system, the object of which is to take care of the basics of reason and of law.

The principle of utility is the basis of the present work: it will be good therefore at the beginning to give a clear and determinate account of what is meant by it. By the principle of utility is meant that principle which approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever. According to the tendency it appears to have to enhance or diminish the happiness of the person(s) whose interest is in question (http://www.blupete.com).

Jeremy Bentham was born in Queens Square Place, London, on 15th February 1748, son and grandson of attorneys in the City of London, the eldest of six children, highly intelligent, scholarly and shy. His father was a lawyer, a man of property, and an ambitious social climber who destined his son for the highest legal office in the land, that of Lord Chancellor. Educated at Westminster, Jeremy Bentham was admitted to Oxford at the age of 12 and to Lincoln's Inn at the age of fifteen in 1763. His Oxford BA was awarded one year later and he was admitted to the bar at the age of 21 in 1769. (http://www.utilitarian.net/bentham/about/20020915.htm).

He was an English philosopher and political radical. Although he never practiced law, he spent most of his life critiquing the existing law and strongly advocating legal reform. Bentham spent his time in intense study, often writing some eight to twelve hours a day. While most of his best known work deals with hypothetical questions in law He lived during a time of major social, political and economic change. The Industrial Revolution, the rise of the middle class, and revolutions in France and America all were reflected in Bentham's reflections on existing institutions (http://www.iep.utm.edu/b/bentham.htm).

Bentham is primarily known today for his moral philosophy, especially his principle of utilitarianism which evaluates actions based upon their consequences, in particular the overall happiness created for everyone affected by the action. He maintained that putting this principle into consistent practice would provide justification for social, political, and legal institutions. Although his work came to have an important influence on political philosophy, Bentham did not write any single text giving the essential