Bentham, Jeremy

English philosopher, legal and social reformer, and founder of utilitarianism. He believed that every individual action could be submitted to a ‘felicific calculus’, a quantitative comparison of pleasures and pains, the product of which could be used for the purposes of arriving at legislation that would achieve ‘the greatest happiness of the greatest number’. The essence of his moral philosophy is found in Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789).

Although ridiculed for his imprecision, Bentham defended the ‘felicific calculus’ by stating that it was a working hypothesis, not a mechanical procedure. He intended it to take the place of the doctrine of natural rights, which held that individuals had certain absolute moral claims. Modern books on public choice theory term this ‘consequentialism’, judging public action in terms of their practical consequences for everyone. Bentham declared that the ‘utility’ of any law is to be measured by the extent to which it promotes the pleasure, good, and happiness of the people concerned.

In economics, he was a proponent of laissez faire, the theory that the state should not intervene in economic affairs. In Defence of Usury (1787) and Manual of Political Economy (1798) he contended that his principle of utility was best served by allowing every man to pursue his own interests unhindered by restrictive legislation.