Jeremy  Bentham  (1748-­‐1832)  –  a  quick  summary  Legal  Positivist  (classic)  

 

   

• British  jurist,  philosopher,  social  reformer  • He  wrote  several  famous  books  including  Of  Laws  in  General    (1782)  and  An  Introduction  to  the  Principles  of  Morals  and  Legislation  (1789)  

• He  did  not  believe  in  God  –  he  was  an  atheist.  • He  was  a  social  reform  advocate  and  he  wrote  on  many  topics  including:  

o Women’s  rights  o Animal  rights  (he  was  against  harming  animals  although  he  accepted  that  they  could  be  used  for  food;  he  also  accepted  that  they  could  be  used  for  medical  experiments  if  it  resulted  in  the  greater  happiness)  

o Rights  for  homosexuals  o He  was  very  much  ahead  of  his  time  –  many  of  his  ideas  were  not  published  in  his  lifetime,  some  of  the  reforms  he  argued  for  were  later  realized.  

• He  is  famous  for  being  the  founder  of  a  theory  called  “utilitarianism”  • He  ridiculed  natural  law  

o he  called  it  “nonsense  upon  stilts”;  o he  thought  that  unwritten  law  was  intrinsically  vague  and  uncertain;  o he  thought  that  natural  law  was  nothing  more  than  ‘private  opinion  in  disguise’  

• He  criticized  the  common  law  for  being  inconsistent,  confusing,  using  legal  jargon  and  for  being  difficult  to  understand  for  normal  people  

• He  criticized  the  use  of  ‘judicial  precedent’  and  the  principle  of  stare  decisis  (which  means  deciding  like  cases  alike)  that  is  part  of  the  common  law  legal  systems.  He  argued  that  following  precedent  was  nothing  more  than  ‘superstitious  respect  for  antiquity’  

• He  called  for  all  of  the  common  law  to  be  codified  into  a  single  set  of  statutes.  By  codifying  it,  judges  would  just  have  to  apply  the  law,  reducing  the  role  of  judges  and  lawyers.  

• He  wanted  an  underlying  principle  for  the  law  –  so  it  would  be  more  systematic  

• He  said  that  the  goal  of  individuals  (and  society)  is  happiness  • What  is  happiness?  The  presence  of  pleasure  and  the  absence  of  pain  • Famous  quote:  “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.”  

• Individuals  (and  society)  should  aim  at  maximizing  pleasure  and  minimizing  pain  • The  happiness  principle:  It  is  the  greatest  happiness  of  the  greatest  number  that  is  the  measure  of  right  and  wrong  

• He  created  a  way  of  calculating  how  much  “happiness”  any  action  would  create.  (That  calculation  was  called  the  “felicific  calculus”  –  see  below)  

• His  theory,  utilitarianism,  looks  to  the  consequences  of  actions  • His  ideas  were  carried  on  and  developed  by  his  student,  John  Stuart  Mill  (J.S.  Mill)    

• How  did  he  calculate  whether  something  would  produce  more  pleasure  than  pain?  He  created  the  “felicific  calculus”  1.  Intensity:  How  strong  is  the  pleasure?  2.  Duration:  How  long  will  the  pleasure  last?  3.  Certainty  or  uncertainty:  How  likely  or  unlikely  is  it  that  the  pleasure  will  occur?  4.Propinquity  or  remoteness:  How  soon  will  the  pleasure  occur?  5.  Fecundity:  The  probability  that  the  action  will  be  followed  by  sensations  of  the  same  kind.  6.  Purity:  The  probability  that  it  will  not  be  followed  by  sensations  of  the  opposite  kind.  7.  Extent:  How  many  people  will  be  affected?  

 • After  he  died  he  gave  instructions  for  his  body  to  be  dissected,  for  his  skeleton  to  be  used  to  create  an  “Auto-­‐Icon”  which  is  still  on  display  

• He  left  more  than  30,000,000  words  in  manuscripts  –  they  are  still  being  digitalized  and  placed  online.  

 

For  further  information  see:  • Wikipedia’s  Jeremy  Bentham  page:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham  

• University  College  London’s  Bentham  Project:  http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Bentham-­‐Project    

Criticisms  of  his  utilitarianism:  1. If  there  are  no  underlying  ‘natural  law’  ideals  to  bind  all  mankind  that  might  lead  to  abuses  of  power  by  legislatures  –  unlimited  power  is  a  bad  thing  

2. The  ‘happiness  principle’  might  lead  to  abuse  by  the  majority  against  the  minority  

3. Society  might  condone  “torture”  and  other  morally  bad  things  if  it  leads  to  the  happiness  of  the  majority  

4. As  for  using  consequences  to  judge  what  is  right  and  wrong,  how  can  we  be  sure  about  the  consequences  of  any  particular  action?  And  how  do  we  weigh  pleasure  against  pain?