Philosophy › Reason, experience & Enlightenment › Utilitarianism: the greatest happiness principle
Jeremy Bentham
1748–1832· Philosopher· Ethics & how to live
Well documentedSolid records, texts or physical evidence.
English legal reformer who founded utilitarianism: judge every law and act by how much pleasure and pain it produces.
See it on the Philosophy map →The idea
The idea: 'Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure.' In An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789) he proposed measuring pleasures by intensity, duration, certainty and four other factors, then adding them up. He used this test to attack cruel punishments, defend animals ('Can they suffer?') and privately argue for decriminalizing homosexuality. He called natural rights 'nonsense upon stilts.' Main objection: simply adding up pleasures can justify sacrificing a minority.
Why it matters
He turned ethics into a tool for reforming law, prisons and government, and his question 'Can they suffer?' still drives the animal-welfare movement.
Legacy and sources
His books and tens of thousands of manuscript pages at University College London, still being edited. His preserved skeleton, dressed and seated, is displayed there as his 'auto-icon.'
Still debated
Whether pleasures can really be measured on one scale, as his 'felicific calculus' assumes, remains the central doubt about his method.
Connections (2)
▸Jeremy Bentham founded Utilitarianism: the greatest happiness principleWell documented
The connection
Bentham took the phrase 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number,' used earlier by Hutcheson, Beccaria and Priestley, and built it into a system for law. Laws and punishments should be judged solely by whether they increase total happiness, pleasure minus pain; his 'felicific calculus' scored pleasures and pains on seven dimensions, from intensity to extent, the number affected.
When and how
London: A Fragment on Government (1776) and An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (printed 1780, published 1789).
How we know
His published works and manuscripts at University College London; Mill's 1838 essay 'Bentham' treats him as the school's founder.
Debates and open questions
Whether 'founded' is fair given his many predecessors; Bentham credited Priestley, and similar ideas appear in Hume, Helvétius and even ancient China's Mozi.
▸Jeremy Bentham shaped the upbringing of John Stuart MillWell documented
The connection
Bentham's ally James Mill raised his son John to be utilitarianism's champion, with Bentham's advice and sometimes his houses; they spent summers at Forde Abbey, which Bentham rented. At fifteen the boy read Bentham and felt he now had 'a creed, a doctrine, a philosophy.' He later edited Bentham's work, then broke down and criticized Bentham's narrowness.
When and how
London and Forde Abbey in southwest England, 1808–1826; Mill edited Bentham's Rationale of Judicial Evidence (1827) and wrote his critical essay 'Bentham' in 1838.
How we know
Mill's Autobiography (1873) describes his schooling and his debt to Bentham in detail, confirmed by family letters.
Debates and open questions
How much the harsh education caused his 1826 breakdown, and whether his later views improved Benthamism or quietly abandoned it.