Bentham first attained attention as a critic. He popularly critiqued English theorist, Sir William Blackstone, and from there, he went on to publicly voice his opinions on social and political reform to better support humanity and prove his morality.
He published Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation in 1789, and in it, the term utility was born, referring to the overall satisfaction of humans. His book kickstarted utilitarianism which has since been understood as the theory focusing on the overall tendency of a government to promote the greatest amount of happiness among the greatest possible amount of people.
Jeremy Bentham is pictured below:
source: https://www.utilitarianism.com/bentham.htm
1 comment:
Cool! That's wax, right?
To add to Gabby's information, here's what I found out about Bentham's early life:
-He was a child prodigy. He began to learn Latin at the age of three. (We were all slackers I guess.)
-He went to Oxford at age TWELVE.
-His dad wanted him to be a fancy lawyer and eventually Lord Chancellor of England. Talk about pressure!
-Ironically, he ended up criticizing the law, noticing its many flaws.
-He also pushed for "universal suffrage and the decriminalisation of homosexuality." That surprised me because he lived in the late 1700s to early 1800s. He was clearly "a visionary far ahead of his time," as the first source aptly states.
-Ok, WHATTTTTTTTTT. I just found out what Gabby's picture is. So, Bentham's friend dissected his body upon his death (per his request, of course.) Then. The surgeon friend preserved Bentham's skeleton. THAT'S WHAT THE PICTURE IS. It's actually Bentham. In his very own clothes!!! (The head is wax, though.) I'm torn. Is that creepy or cool? Maybe both?
Source: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bentham-project/who-was-jeremy-bentham, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bentham-project/who-was-jeremy-bentham/auto-icon
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