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Jeremy Bentham
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- 2. Houndsditch, London onFebruary 15, 1748Child Prodigy“The Philosopher”WestminsterQueen’s College, Oxford
- 3. Lincoln's InnCareer inlawOrganized ReligionLegal Reform
- 4. Natural RightsPerversion oflanguage“What is every mans…”
- 5. Utilitarianism “Nature has placedmankind 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. On the one hand the standard of right and wrong, on the other the chain of causes and effects, are fastened to their throne. They govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think...”Felicific CalculusPleasurePainaction
- 6. University College, LondonForthose excluded from university education
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- 8. BibliographyFelicific calculus. (October,27 2010). Retrieved October 29, 2010, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicific_calculusJeremy Bentham. (2010, October 29). Retrieved November 1, 2010, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_BenthamSweet, W. (2008, December 23). Jeremy Bentham. Retrieved October 28, 2010, from Internet Encyclopedia: http://www.iep.utm.edu/bentham/#H3The 'uneventful life' that embraced philosophy and science as well as penal reform and fridges. (2005, September 9). Retrieved October 29, 2010, from Utilitarianism: http://www.utilitarianism.com/jeremy-bentham/life.html
Editor's Notes
- #3 3: Read bulky history of England5:”The Philosopher”7: Westminster12: Queen’s College, OxfordBoth prestigious schools… didn’t like either “Poison instilling seminars”“Mendacity and insincerity”^^Only sure effects of English university educationYet still graduated @ 16 from college
- #4 More interested in thinking and writing than practicing law.Bentham left literally tens of thousands of manuscript pages—some of which was work only sketched out, but all of which he hoped would be prepared for publicationRuthless analyst and critic of conventional wisdomDistaste for organized religionWriting on matters of legal reformEx. Prisons with central viewing station
- #5 Natural Rights is “Perversion of language”“Such a ‘right’ may tell us what we ought to do it canont serve as legal restraint”“What is every mans ‘right’ is no mans right” (pen example)Bentham believed all rights must be legal and specific thus needing…
- #6 Only way to do that is through Ulititarianism“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. On the one hand the standard of right and wrong, on the other the chain of causes and effects, are fastened to their throne. They govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think...”Variableshow strong is the pleasure? How long will the pleasure last? how likely or unlikely is it that the pleasure will occur? How soon will the pleasure occur? The probability that the action will be followed by sensations of the same kind. The probability that it will not be followed by sensations of the opposite kind. How many people will be affected?Easy way to remember:Intense, long, certain, speedy, fruitful, pure—Such marks in pleasures and in pains endure.Such pleasures seek if private be thy end:If it be public, wide let them extendSuch pains avoid, whichever be thy view:If pains must come, let them extend to few.
- #7 He also left a large estate, which was used to finance the newly-established University College, London though he was 78 years old when UCL opened in 1826 and played no active part in its establishment. It is likely that without his inspiration, UCL would not have been created when it was. Bentham strongly believed that education should be more widely available, particularly to those who were not wealthy or who did not belong to the established church, both of which were required of students by Oxford and Cambridge. As UCL was the first English university to admit all, regardless of race, creed or political belief, it was largely consistent with Bentham's visionHis cadaver, per his instructions, was dissected, embalmed, dressed, and placed in a chair, and to this day resides in a cabinet in a corridor of the main building of University College. The Bentham Project, set up in the early 1960s at University College, has as its aim the publishing of a definitive, scholarly edition of Bentham’s works and correspondence.Greatest good of all…