Jeremy Bentham was an English philosopher who developed a theory of law known as legal positivism. He believed that law is defined by the rules enacted by a sovereign authority, rather than being based on morality or natural law. Bentham's theory was based on the principle of utility, which holds that an action is right if it tends to promote happiness or pleasure and prevent unhappiness or pain. He developed a "hedonic calculus" to measure pleasure and pain in order to determine the moral rightness of actions and laws. Bentham's theory emphasized individualism and argued that the proper aim of legislation is to achieve the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people according to the principle of utility.
The slides relate to Part - III of the Indian Constitution i.e. FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS. It elaborates on the violation of fundamental rights under the constitution. Useful for Law students and Professionals.
State is important topic in Private International Law. It is very important for all law students world widely. It covers all he content of State.This PPT gives a detail information of the state in present time.
Definitions of Jurisprudence. Scope & Relationship with other social sciencescarolineelias239
this slide says about the definitions put forward by famous scholars, better meaning of jurisprudence, and how different social science subjects are inter connected with Jurisprudence.
The Power Point deals with the legal concept of Rights and Duties. An attempt has been made on the part of the author to explain the depth of the topic in lucid terms with the help of flowcharts and examples.
The slides relate to Part - III of the Indian Constitution i.e. FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS. It elaborates on the violation of fundamental rights under the constitution. Useful for Law students and Professionals.
State is important topic in Private International Law. It is very important for all law students world widely. It covers all he content of State.This PPT gives a detail information of the state in present time.
Definitions of Jurisprudence. Scope & Relationship with other social sciencescarolineelias239
this slide says about the definitions put forward by famous scholars, better meaning of jurisprudence, and how different social science subjects are inter connected with Jurisprudence.
The Power Point deals with the legal concept of Rights and Duties. An attempt has been made on the part of the author to explain the depth of the topic in lucid terms with the help of flowcharts and examples.
The Patriot Act The primary function of the USA Patriot Act is sta.docxarnoldmeredith47041
The Patriot Act The primary function of the USA Patriot Act is stated in its full title: "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism." To this end, it has expanded "law enforcement investigatory tools," including surveillance of individuals.
Those in support of the Act often argue that the loss of privacy brought about by the collection of information on individuals that the Act allows is far preferable to even one terrorist attack on US soil. It is what best promotes the general welfare or well-being of the population affected by the Act. Do you agree?
For your convenience, here are some links where you can find additional information on the Patriot Act:
FinCEN USA PATRIOT Act
National security versus individual freedom: Surveillance and the Patriot Act
The Patriot Act and Consequences
For both those who argue in favor of the Patriot Act and those against it, a key matter is: What are the consequences of implementing the policy? Does this Act lead to better outcomes than alternative policies? If so, it is the right policy. If not, it is the wrong policy. That is a moral evaluation. It is dependent on the assessment of outcomes or consequences. Thinking about the rightness of actions in terms of the desirability or undesirability of their consequences for those whose lives are affected is characteristic of utilitarianism.
Many of you are familiar with the phrases “outcomes assessment” and “process and outcomes assessment.” They or their synonyms are used broadly today in education, business, government, engineering, health care, and the military, to name just a few areas. Whenever you hear of measurement of outcomes, you know that an issue is being approached in terms of the theory of utility, an extraordinarily influential theory of ethics. The point of the interaction section below is to bring to your attention important elements in how the two most significant proponents of the theory, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, framed the theory and how it could be useful for case discussion.
Utilitarianism and Social Progress
We begin, with this module, our examination of the major approaches to ethical reflection, approaches that you will be expected to apply to cases. The module contents focus on providing you with commentary that is based on primary sources; that is, on the writings of the thinkers who articulated and developed the various moral theories we apply in cases. This is intended to complement the textbook presentation of major approaches to ethical reflection.
Welfare, well-being, the good, benefit, happiness are all going to be treated as near synonyms. They are what utility is. In line with 18th-century Enlightenment thinking, the utilitarians believed in the power of reason to overcome the dead weight of customs and prejudices. Their goal was not disruption for its own sake, but the improvement of the lot of humanity. Jeremy Bentham was a utilitarian wh.
P a g e 1 Introduction to Utilitarianism So.docxkarlhennesey
P a g e | 1
Introduction to Utilitarianism
Some years ago, 38-year-old Karla Faye Tucker became the first woman executed in the State of
Texas in over 130 years. A former drug addict and prostitute, Tucker and a friend ended a three-
day drug binge by attempting to steal a young man’s motorcycle. They broke into the man’s
apartment and killed him and a visiting woman friend with a pickax. Afterward, Tucker bragged
that she got a thrill from the murders. She and her accomplice were caught a month later and
ultimately sentenced to death. As her execution date approached, she gained worldwide notoriety
because of her unique situation as a woman on death row, her newly found religious conviction,
and her paradoxically warm personality. The Pope himself made a public appeal for clemency.
Tucker herself believed that her life should be spared since she had reformed to the point that she
was no longer part of society’s crime problem but part of the cure. In an interview two weeks
before her execution, she explained:
I can witness to people who have been on drugs or into prostitution or into all of that, and
they’ll listen to me because they know I understand and can relate to them. And I can
keep them from going down that road, because I can let them know. I changed. You can
too. [Larry King Live, January 31, 1998]
Clemency was not granted, and the execution took place as planned.
Tucker argued that her life should be spared since her remaining alive would serve the
greater social good. Her reasoning strategy was utilitarian in nature. Most generally,
utilitarianism is the moral theory that an action is morally right if it serves the greatest happiness
for the greatest number of people. To determine whether Tucker should have been executed, the
utilitarian would have compared the total good resulting from her execution with the total good
resulting from her remaining alive. Tucker believed that more good would result if she remained
alive. However, defenders of capital punishment also use utilitarian reasoning and argue that the
greater social good is served by executing some criminals. After her execution, a relative of one
of Tucker’s victims said, in utilitarian fashion, “The world’s [now] a better place.” Presumably,
executing criminals such as Tucker sends a strong signal to other would-be criminals and deters
them. It also assists in the psychological healing process of victims and their families.
Utilitarians believe that the sole factor in determining an action’s morality is the balance
of social good versus social evil. Appeals to moral intuitions, social traditions, or God’s wishes
are not relevant. Utilitarianism has a long history, but the most famous versions of the theory
emerged in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly in the hedonistic utilitarianism
championed by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Hedonism involves pleasure seeking, and
hed ...
Define Utilitarianism and tell me about Jeremy Bentham. Does the Un.docxvickeryr87
Define Utilitarianism and tell me about Jeremy Bentham. Does the United States military endorse this view of Ethical thinking? What are your feelings on the "Greater Good for Most" theory, do you agree with this theory? around 200-300 words.
Discussion
Need Soon.
Check it below for reference.
UTILITARIANISM
Utilitarianism
is the moral doctrine that we should always act to produce the greatest possible balance of good over bad for everyone affected by our actions. By “good,” utilitarians understand happiness or pleasure. Thus, the greatest happiness of all constitutes the standard that determines whether an action is right or wrong. Although the basic theme of utilitarianism is present in the writings of many earlier thinkers, Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) were the first to develop the theory explicitly and in detail. Both Bentham and Mill were philosophers with a strong interest in legal and social reform. They used the utilitarian standard to evaluate and criticize the social and political institutions of their day—for example, the prison system and the disenfranchisement of women. As a result, utilitarianism has long been associated with social improvement.
Utilitarianism tells us to bring about the most happiness for everyone affected by our actions.
Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill were important early utilitarians.
Bentham viewed a community as no more than the individual persons that it comprises. The interests of the community are simply the sum of the interests of its members. An action promotes the interests of an individual when it adds to the individual’s pleasure or diminishes the person’s pain. Correspondingly, an action augments the happiness of a community only insofar as it increases the total amount of individual happiness. This is what Bentham had in mind when he argued for the utilitarian principle that actions are right if they promote the greatest human welfare, wrong if they do not.
For Bentham, pleasure and pain are merely types of sensations. He offered a “hedonic calculus” of six criteria for evaluating pleasure and pain exclusively by their quantitative differences—in particular, by their intensity and duration. This calculus, he believed, makes possible an objective determination of the morality of anyone’s conduct, individual or collective, on any occasion.
Bentham rejected any distinctions based on the type of pleasure except insofar as they might indicate differences in quantity. Thus, if equal amounts of pleasure are involved, throwing darts is as good as writing poetry and baking a cake as good as composing a symphony; watching Shakespeare’s
Hamlet
has no more value than watching
Jersey Shore.
Although he himself was an intelligent, cultivated man, Bentham maintained that there is nothing intrinsically better about refined and intellectual pleasures than about crude or prosaic ones. The only issue is which yields the greater amount of enjoyment.
John Stuart Mi.
GuidanceUtilitarianism Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart MillUti.docxwhittemorelucilla
Guidance
Utilitarianism: Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill
Utilitarianism associates the notion of “good” in relation to “happiness” or “pleasure,” if we can understand these words in the widest possible sense. See below for Bentham's appeal to "pain and pleasure" as the "masters" of humankind. This view of what is “good” is referred to as “hedonism.” Hedonism is a word which some may be familiar with in a negative, pejorative sense. This is not surprising, since the idea of “hedonism” have long been used disparagingly as a charge against people who seem to seek their own pleasure, without concern for the welfare or interests of others. Concern for happiness or pleasure does not need to be taken in such a narrow way. Many religious traditions from Buddhism, Christianity (particularly the “Puritans” who immigrated to the Americas from England) and Islam, amongst others, have emphasized denial of bodily pleasure and enjoyment, preferring sacrifice of self and denial of the body as ideals, making the idea of “hedonism” as source for ethical judgment seem contradictory to many people. These religious traditions tend to portray the pursuit of pleasure as “sinful,” distracting from what they take to be more important pursuits like worshiping of a God, or preparation for death. But even many versions of these religious traditions also seek or promise some form of “happiness” or “pleasure” to those who follow their ways (though, such happiness is often supposedly found in another realm after death.)
The joys or pleasures we seek are not always the immediate product of our actions. We may in fact choose to do less than pleasant things for the sake of achieving some sought goal, which will then bring about happiness. We might consider the example of going to the dentist and getting our teeth drilled as one such activity. *(Note, I would like to contend from my own experience that if one uses local anesthesia and has a competent dentist, there shouldn't really be pain involved.)
The following excerpt from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy adds some important, general considerations regarding the philosophy of utilitarianism:
"utilitarianism is generally held to be the view that the morally right action is the action that produces the most good. There are many ways to spell out this general claim. One thing to note is that the theory is a form of consequentialism: the right action is understood entirely in terms of consequences produced. What distinguishes utilitarianism from egoism has to do with the scope of the relevant consequences. On the utilitarian view one ought to maximize the overall good — that is, consider the good of others as well as one's own good.
The classical utilitarians, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, identified the good with pleasure, so, like Epicurus, were hedonists about value. They also held that we ought to maximize the good, that is, bring about ‘the greatest amount of good for the greatest number’.
Utili ...
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RIGHTS OF VICTIM EDITED PRESENTATION(SAIF JAVED).pptxOmGod1
Victims of crime have a range of rights designed to ensure their protection, support, and participation in the justice system. These rights include the right to be treated with dignity and respect, the right to be informed about the progress of their case, and the right to be heard during legal proceedings. Victims are entitled to protection from intimidation and harm, access to support services such as counseling and medical care, and the right to restitution from the offender. Additionally, many jurisdictions provide victims with the right to participate in parole hearings and the right to privacy to protect their personal information from public disclosure. These rights aim to acknowledge the impact of crime on victims and to provide them with the necessary resources and involvement in the judicial process.
Introducing New Government Regulation on Toll Road.pdfAHRP Law Firm
For nearly two decades, Government Regulation Number 15 of 2005 on Toll Roads ("GR No. 15/2005") has served as the cornerstone of toll road legislation. However, with the emergence of various new developments and legal requirements, the Government has enacted Government Regulation Number 23 of 2024 on Toll Roads to replace GR No. 15/2005. This new regulation introduces several provisions impacting toll business entities and toll road users. Find out more out insights about this topic in our Legal Brief publication.
Military Commissions details LtCol Thomas Jasper as Detailed Defense CounselThomas (Tom) Jasper
Military Commissions Trial Judiciary, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Notice of the Chief Defense Counsel's detailing of LtCol Thomas F. Jasper, Jr. USMC, as Detailed Defense Counsel for Abd Al Hadi Al-Iraqi on 6 August 2014 in the case of United States v. Hadi al Iraqi (10026)
Responsibilities of the office bearers while registering multi-state cooperat...Finlaw Consultancy Pvt Ltd
Introduction-
The process of register multi-state cooperative society in India is governed by the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act, 2002. This process requires the office bearers to undertake several crucial responsibilities to ensure compliance with legal and regulatory frameworks. The key office bearers typically include the President, Secretary, and Treasurer, along with other elected members of the managing committee. Their responsibilities encompass administrative, legal, and financial duties essential for the successful registration and operation of the society.
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You can rely on our assistance if you are ready to apply for permanent residency. Find out more at: https://immigration-netherlands.com/obtain-a-permanent-residence-permit-in-the-netherlands/.
NATURE, ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL LAW.pptxanvithaav
These slides helps the student of international law to understand what is the nature of international law? and how international law was originated and developed?.
The slides was well structured along with the highlighted points for better understanding .
DNA Testing in Civil and Criminal Matters.pptxpatrons legal
Get insights into DNA testing and its application in civil and criminal matters. Find out how it contributes to fair and accurate legal proceedings. For more information: https://www.patronslegal.com/criminal-litigation.html
WINDING UP of COMPANY, Modes of DissolutionKHURRAMWALI
Winding up, also known as liquidation, refers to the legal and financial process of dissolving a company. It involves ceasing operations, selling assets, settling debts, and ultimately removing the company from the official business registry.
Here's a breakdown of the key aspects of winding up:
Reasons for Winding Up:
Insolvency: This is the most common reason, where the company cannot pay its debts. Creditors may initiate a compulsory winding up to recover their dues.
Voluntary Closure: The owners may decide to close the company due to reasons like reaching business goals, facing losses, or merging with another company.
Deadlock: If shareholders or directors cannot agree on how to run the company, a court may order a winding up.
Types of Winding Up:
Voluntary Winding Up: This is initiated by the company's shareholders through a resolution passed by a majority vote. There are two main types:
Members' Voluntary Winding Up: The company is solvent (has enough assets to pay off its debts) and shareholders will receive any remaining assets after debts are settled.
Creditors' Voluntary Winding Up: The company is insolvent and creditors will be prioritized in receiving payment from the sale of assets.
Compulsory Winding Up: This is initiated by a court order, typically at the request of creditors, government agencies, or even by the company itself if it's insolvent.
Process of Winding Up:
Appointment of Liquidator: A qualified professional is appointed to oversee the winding-up process. They are responsible for selling assets, paying off debts, and distributing any remaining funds.
Cease Trading: The company stops its regular business operations.
Notification of Creditors: Creditors are informed about the winding up and invited to submit their claims.
Sale of Assets: The company's assets are sold to generate cash to pay off creditors.
Payment of Debts: Creditors are paid according to a set order of priority, with secured creditors receiving payment before unsecured creditors.
Distribution to Shareholders: If there are any remaining funds after all debts are settled, they are distributed to shareholders according to their ownership stake.
Dissolution: Once all claims are settled and distributions made, the company is officially dissolved and removed from the business register.
Impact of Winding Up:
Employees: Employees will likely lose their jobs during the winding-up process.
Creditors: Creditors may not recover their debts in full, especially if the company is insolvent.
Shareholders: Shareholders may not receive any payout if the company's debts exceed its assets.
Winding up is a complex legal and financial process that can have significant consequences for all parties involved. It's important to seek professional legal and financial advice when considering winding up a company.
ALL EYES ON RAFAH BUT WHY Explain more.pdf46adnanshahzad
All eyes on Rafah: But why?. The Rafah border crossing, a crucial point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, often finds itself at the center of global attention. As we explore the significance of Rafah, we’ll uncover why all eyes are on Rafah and the complexities surrounding this pivotal region.
INTRODUCTION
What makes Rafah so significant that it captures global attention? The phrase ‘All eyes are on Rafah’ resonates not just with those in the region but with people worldwide who recognize its strategic, humanitarian, and political importance. In this guide, we will delve into the factors that make Rafah a focal point for international interest, examining its historical context, humanitarian challenges, and political dimensions.
2. JEREMY BENTHAM (1748-1832)
One of the earliest legal positivist and considered to be the founder of
positivism.
English Utilitarian philosopher and social reformer.
Popularly known for his theory of “utilitarianism”, also called as “doctrine
of hedonism”
He expounded principle of utility in his “Limits of Jurisprudence Defined”
published in 1945.
He did not think morality as an essential attribute of law and was of the
view that law is in need of revision.
Rejected the notion of reason to decide the morality of action.
Principle of antipathy and sympathy is not sufficient to decide morality of
action
Principle of utility is a morally right principle of action of every situation.
Defined a hedonistic method to calculate the moral rightness or
wrongness of an action, which is known as hedonistic calculus.
Bentham’s view about law were popularized by his disciple John Austin.
3. TWO DOCTRINES OF BENTHAM
PSYCHOLOGICAL HEDONISM
Human actions are motivated by the desire to enjoy pleasure or
prevent pain.
Enjoyment of pleasure or prevent pain is the only rational aim of
human action.
ETHICAL HEDONISM
Wrongness or rightness of an action is determined by whether the
action create happiness or unhappiness.
If an action conforms to principle of utility (action tends to promote
happiness or prevent unhappiness) then the action is morally right or
at least not morally wrong.
That is an action should have an overall tendency to promote the
greatest amount of happiness.
Happiness is identified with predominance of pleasure and absence of
pain.
4. CLASSIFICATION OF PLEASURE & PAIN
Pleasure and Pain may be caused by:
Various kinds of sensation
Thoughts
Emotions
Memories
Expectations
Associations
Pleasure may be caused by the relief of pain and satisfaction of
desire.
Pain maybe caused by cessation of pleasure and frustration of
desire.
According to Bentham, “nature has placed mankind under
governance of two sovereign masters i.e. pleasure and pain”. We
owe them all our ideas; we refer to them all our judgments and all
the determination of life
5. TYPES OF SANCTION
Bentham calls the various kinds of pleasures and pain
as sanctions and divides them into four categories.
These are:
Physical Sanction: pain and pleasure arise due to
normal and natural or ordinary course of nature.
Political Sanction: pain and pleasure arise due to an
action of the sovereign authority or government.
Moral Sanction: pain and pleasure is attached to an
action by the will of the individual who are not in
authority.
Religious Sanction: pain and pleasure is attached to an
action caused by the supernatural power or a superior
invisible being.
6. THEORY OF UTILITARIANISM
More emphasis was given to “individualism”.
He discussed the principle in “Introduction to Principles of Morals &
Legislation”.
Right aim of legislation is carrying out the principle of utility, which means
that law shall prevent evil and produce good.
Defined utility as “the property or tendency of a thing to prevent some
evil or procure some good.”
Proper end of every law is the promotion of “greatest happiness in
greatest number”.
Function of law is to unfetter the individual from the bondage.
Once individual is free, he will be able to care about his future.
He supported the principle of “laissez faire” state.
The task of the government is to promote happiness of society by
furthering enjoyment of pleasure & affording security against pain.
7. His theory proposed two premises:
Consequentialism: it means morality is concerned with the effects
of actions on the happiness of individual.
Maximization of happiness: it means greatest happiness in
greatest number.
Bentham desired to ensure happiness of the community by attaining
four major goals, namely:
Subsistence
Abundance
Equality
Security for the citizens.
Therefore, the function of the law must be to meet these ends.
Bentham also talks about the utility as a function of usefulness i.e.
how useful a product is depends upon our will to obtain it.
Pleasure and pain are the ultimate standards on which a law should
be judged.
Thus, “greatest happiness principle” or the principle of utility forms
the gist of Bentham’s thought.
8. SEVEN DIMENSIONS OF PLEASURE & PAIN
Pleasure and pain can be scientifically calculated according to the
following seven criteria of the Hedonistic Calculus. These are:
Intensity or how intense is it,
Duration or how long it lasts,
Certainty or how probable it is,
Propinquity or how soon will the expected effects will become evident,
Fecundity or the probability of leading to further pleasure,
Purity or how free from pain it is,
Extent or how widely it covers
Bentham argues that individual pursuit may lead to greatest pain and
less pleasure to society and may not be right.
Duty of legislation is to maintain society with optimum pleasure and
minimum degree of pain.
9. BENTHAM & NATURAL RIGHTS
According to Bentham, natural rights are simple non-sense.
He calls natural law as “mock-law”, “sham law” or “quasi law”.
He dethroned the natural from its pedestal & replaced it by a logical
scientific working principle of utility.
Natural rights are ambiguous Bentham says, because it suggests that
there are general rights i.e. rights over no specific object.
This means that one could have a claim on whatever one chooses.
He also condemned the belief in natural rights on the grounds that it
inspired violence and bloodshed as seen in French Revolution.
In his view, all rights are the creation of law and there is no right
before the government.
He co-related his theory with human nature and his views are based
on practical approach and real sense of life.
10. CRITICISM AGAINST BENTHAM
According to Freidmann, it suffers mainly from two weaknesses,
It is an effort to blend materialism with idealism
His theory fails to balance individual interests with the interests
of the community.
Pleasure and pain cannot be the final test of the adequacy of
law. Every act which gives pleasure cannot be said to be good
Law should be made exclusively by legislation which was
supposed to remove any barrier to individual freedom but in
later times, legislation was used to restrict individual’s freedom
in economic matters.
The ethics of principle of greatest happiness of greatest number
is neither universally accepted nor derived as a logical
necessity.
11. CONCLUSION
Bentham was the real originator of analytical jurisprudence.
He explained the nature of law and its purpose through tool of
analysis.
He mainly relied on the doctrine of utility to which law ought to
conform.
Relied on the doctrine of utility to measure the efficacy of law.
He invented Expository Jurisprudence which mainly concerned
with law as it is without regard to its moral or immoral character.
He insisted on the separation of law from morality.
According to G.W Paton, Bentham’s brilliant insight in human
behaviour and shape of model law was the greatest contribution
to European Jurisprudence.