The Philosopher

Jeremy Bentham

The face

The background

Nationality:
English
Schools:
utilitarianism, Radicalism, Liberalism, Legal positivism, Epicureanism
Branchs:
Philosophy of law, Political philosophy, Ethics, Economics, Legal reform, Privacy
Period:
18th-century and 19th-century

The synopsis

Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) was an English philosopher, jurist, and social reformer, widely regarded as the founder of modern utilitarianism. His core philosophical principle was that "it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong." Bentham was a leading theorist in the philosophy of law and a political radical whose ideas influenced the development of welfarism. He championed individual and economic freedoms, the separation of church and state, freedom of expression, equal rights for women, and the decriminalization of homosexual acts. He also advocated for the abolition of capital punishment and physical punishment, and was an early proponent of animal rights. Bentham famously critiqued the concept of natural law and natural rights, calling them "nonsense upon stilts." His students included James Mill and John Stuart Mill. Upon his death, Bentham's body was preserved as an "auto-icon" and is now displayed at University College London. His influential work, *An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation*, laid the groundwork for utilitarianism.

The works

The quotes

Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign 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.
Jeremy Bentham
It is the greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong.
Jeremy Bentham
Every law is an infraction of liberty.
Jeremy Bentham
The age we live in is a busy age; in which knowledge is rapidly advancing towards perfection.
Jeremy Bentham
It is vain to talk of the interest of the community, without understanding what is the interest of the individual.
Jeremy Bentham
He who thinks and thinks for himself, will always have a claim to thanks; it is no matter whether it be right or wrong, so as it be explicit. If it is right, it will serve as a guide to direct; if wrong, as a beacon to warn.
Jeremy Bentham
No power of government ought to be employed in the endeavor to establish any system or article of belief on the subject of religion.
Jeremy Bentham
As to the evil which results from a censorship, it is impossible to measure it, for it is impossible to tell where it ends.
Jeremy Bentham
The greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation.
Jeremy Bentham
Lawyers are the only persons in whom ignorance of the law is not punished.
Jeremy Bentham
All punishment is mischief; all punishment in itself is evil.
Jeremy Bentham
The said truth is that it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.
Jeremy Bentham
The question is not, 'Can they reason?' nor, 'Can they talk?' but rather, 'Can they suffer?'
Jeremy Bentham
Secrecy, being an instrument of conspiracy, ought never to be the system of a regular government.
Jeremy Bentham
The power of the lawyer is in the uncertainty of the law.
Jeremy Bentham
Stretching his hand up to reach the stars, too often man forgets the flowers at his feet.
Jeremy Bentham
Tyranny and anarchy are never far apart.
Jeremy Bentham
The principle of asceticism never was, nor ever can be, consistently pursued by any living creature. Let but one tenth part of the inhabitants of the earth pursue it consistently, and in a day's time they will have turned it into a Hell.
Jeremy Bentham