Bentham, Jeremy

Chrestomathia (Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham)

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Chrestomathia (Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham)
Jeremy Bentham
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Binding: Hardcover

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Jeremy Bentham: An odyssey of ideas
Mary Peter Mack
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
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Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B0006AY3U2

The Principles of Morals and Legislation (Great Books in Philosophy)

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Interrogation of the Principles Behind Moralsand Legislation

The Principles of Morals and Legislation (Great Books in Philosophy)
Jeremy Bentham
Manufacturer: Prometheus Books
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Binding: Paperback

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Bentham: A Fragment on Government (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Utilitarianism
The Classical Utilitarians: Bentham and Mill
A Treatise of Human Nature

ASIN: 0879754346

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Interrogation of the Principles Behind Moralsand Legislation.......2004-12-13

Jeremy Bentham's ideology on human pursuit of pleasure contains many strengths and weaknesses. Bentham's essay, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, separates the two root drives of human essence into categories of pleasure and pain. Bentham stresses the duality of the human mind's pursuit of pleasure, continuing from subjugation of others for ultimate attainment. He states that humans should not be grouped, due to personal conviction and perspective. Although the individual is part of a community, the individual's own pursuance of pleasure categorizes them as a utility; resulting in the term `utilitarianism.'
Several principles are listed by Bentham to support his argument that humanity has a distinct set of motives to create happiness or malcontent amongst the masses. Bentham relates these principles with empowered political bodies and why they continue to rule. One of Bentham's principles, the principle of sympathy and antipathy, praises the human ability to generally accept certain actions as an impersonal blow. Thus, if a utility does not feel threatened or in err, why relate consequences of actions to personal welfare? In turn, should that individual measure out the consequences of others' actions fearing for their own external welfare?
Bentham's perspective on human methodology as a strict functioning environment of social cues has many flaws. Determination of values as `right' or `wrong' does not review the complexities of human social environment. Empowerment was not an anti-puritanical event that occurred in society; but a constitution of human need for order. Bentham suggests that "principle is something that points out some external consideration, as a means of warranting and guiding the internal sentiments of approbation and disapprobation"(75). Assertion of principle as influence on human external action suggests a strong moral power present in an individual's everyday life. Perhaps the rebellion of moral principle has an antipathic effect on moral judgement. The pleasure produced by rebellion of principle dictates a return to instinctual roots; excluding the `civilizing' factor.
Bentham's open acknowledgement that asceticism violates the nature laws of human government, and cannot be fully pursued, illustrates the ties between the Catholicism and enlightened despotism. The origin of Catholicism and despotism, according to Bentham, stems from an unrealistic aim to impose a standard of morality on the masses. His criticizing of saints best illustrates an open reaction to the weakness of asceticism. Bentham states that, "though many persons of this class have wielded the reins (sic) of empire, we read of none who have set themselves to work, and made laws of purpose"(73). Unfortunately, his touting of utilitarianism above the principle of asceticism, as a proper way to establish a governing body, is only comparative with traditional social classification in the eighteenth century.
Bentham proposed a new way to establish morality and just governmental action from traditional monarchical rule. The imposed Rule of Right, whereas kings justified rule as eternal over his people and empowered by God, was a shifting environment that came into question in Bentham's lifetime. Utilitarianism provided an answer to strategic social problems that came with new leadership apart from a monarchy. Moral advocating by reformers as something an individual instinctually knows is right, was a key concept in utilitarianism. Therefore, pursuance of pleasure above pain would produce just results in a newly formed government.
Pleasure, in the strictest sense, took a prominent place in executive rule over a government. Bentham also writes that good tendency sometimes counteracts pursuance of pleasure in legislative and judicial matters. He best expresses this by writing, "It is not to be expected that this process should be strictly pursued previously to every moral judgement"(88). Considering the objective process of judicial decision as a moral and just environment was revolutionary. Morality, without the ties of asceticism, could and did exist in a ruling environment, ultimately usurping previous ideas that Rule of Right contained eternal, prophetic principle. Bentham's ideas set a cornerstone for other studies of social morality, thus contributing to the new field of sociology.
Bentham's idea of human pleasure and pain being either simple or complex seems very generalistic in approach. He suggests that pleasure and pain are bound into simple and complex categories, therefore never transpiring into different classifications. The elementary view on pursuance of pleasure and pain seems vague for a study of the human condition. Bentham writes that, "the simple ones are those which cannot any one of them be resolved into more," creating a moral quandary (90). For example, Bentham's idea that "the end of the law is to augment happiness" is a just principle of government (97). Unfortunately, law must sometimes contain happiness to produce security. Duality of principle is discussed in his writings, but for every dark and light area there is a gray area.
Jeremy Bentham pioneered root elements of human motivation and morality. He conceptualized a government that founded itself on pursuance of pleasure as just rule. Character of individuals is attained through positive motivation, but for every individual of good character lies the possibility of bad character. Corruption was possible, and presented itself in many forms throughout human history. Efforts to catalogue unpleasant and pleasant dispositions find that government that is founded on positive principle is always corrupted by human condition. Jeremy Bentham's approach in rediscovery of individual strains, through principles, shed a new light on morality.

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Political Tactics (Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham)

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Political Tactics (Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham)
Jeremy Bentham
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Political Tactics, composed for the Estates General in the months just prior to the outbreak of the French Revolution, is one of Bentham's most original works. It contains the earliest and perhaps most important theoretical analysis of parliamentary procedure ever written. It was subsequently translated into many languages and has had a far-reaching influence -- for instance, it provided the basis for the regulations adopted in the 1820s governing the procedures of the Buenos Aires assembly, and as recently as the early 1990s it was reprinted by the Spanish Cortes. With typical thoroughness and insight, Bentham discusses such central themes as the publicity of procedings, the rules of debate, the conduct of deputies, and the proper steps to be taken in composing, proposing, and voting on a motion. Even such relatively minor points as the size of the assembly-room and the costume of the deputies are not overlooked. All along Bentham illustrates his points by reference to the actual practice of both the British Houses of Parliament and the French provincial assemblies.

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The Mind of Jeremy Bentham
D. J. (David John Manning
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press Reprint
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The author reflects on the relation between the different veins of Bentham's thought and on the various experiences which influenced them.

The Classical Utilitarians: Bentham and Mill

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The Classical Utilitarians: Bentham and Mill
Jeremy Bentham
Manufacturer: Hackett Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals: With on a Supposed Right to Lie Because of Philanthropic Concerns
Nicomachean Ethics
Kant: Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy)
The Principles of Morals and Legislation (Great Books in Philosophy)
Ethical Philosophy: Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals & Metaphysical Principles of Virtue

ASIN: 0872206491

Book Description

This volume includes the complete texts of two of John Stuart Mill's most important works, Utilitarianism and On Liberty, and selections from his other writings, including the complete text of his "Remarks on Bentham's Philosophy." The selection from Mill's "A System of Logic" is of special relevance to the debate between those who read Mill as an Act-Utilitarian and those who interpret him as a Rule-Utilitarian.

Also included are selections from the writings of Jeremy Bentham, founder of modern Utilitarianism and mentor (together with James Mill) of John Stuart Mill. Bentham's Principles of Morals and Legislation had important effects on political and legal reform in his own time and continues to provide insights for political theorists and philosophers of law. Seven chapters of Bentham's Principles are here in their entirety, together with a number of shorter selections, including one in which Bentham repudiates the slogan often used to characterize his philosophy: "The Greatest Happiness of the Greatest Number."

John Troyer's Introduction presents the central themes and arguments of Bentham and Mill and assesses their relevance to current discussions of Utilitarianism. The volume also provides indexes, a glossary, and notes.

Utilitarianism and Other Essays (Penguin Classics)
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The calculus of pleasure and pain is not enough

Dogmatism at its height.

Utilitarianism and Other Essays (Penguin Classics)
John Stuart Mill , and Jeremy Bentham
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals: With on a Supposed Right to Lie Because of Philanthropic Concerns

Nicomachean Ethics

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ASIN: 0140432728

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The calculus of pleasure and pain is not enough .......2005-10-30

This is John Stuart Mill's restatement and qualification of the philosophical doctrine of' Utilitarianism'- the doctrine that the aim of Society is to produce the "greatest happiness for the greatest number".
The philosophy whose great inventor was Jeremy Bentham built itself upon the idea of a calculus of pleasures and pains, an almost mechanical measuring of feeling.
However the complexity, contradictory quality of our inner life suggest that any calculation of this type has a certain shallowness and illegitimacy about it.
In any case Mill's idea of utilitarianism does connect with his conception of Liberalism, and does have effect on his later thought even as he rejected most of it.

Dogmatism at its height........2004-09-12

Jeremy Bentham is the father of the doctrine called Utilitarianism, and John Stuart Mill (son of the second-rank philosopher James Mill and a kind of mouthpiece for Jeremy) is his most known disciple. «Utilitarianism and other Essays » presents the reader some of the most important and exciting excerpts texts written by the two thinkers, who, despite outwardly embracing the same doctrine, had to do a lot of theoretical gymnastics to accomodate each other points of view under the same ideological umbrella, thus demonstrating that sometimes the battle is fiercest, albeit muffled, inside than outside ideological headquarters. In hindsight , it seems that John Stuart Mill, who ran the rudders of the Economic doctrine of England until the 1860's, had some scores to settle with Jeremy, who was many years his senior and had ben, by some, the person behind the culturally sophisticated (although stripped of any emotional and religious overtones) education John received as a boy, learning Greek at 3, Latin at 8 and revising at 15 (in French) the first volume of the book « Democracy in America », by Tocqueville. The outcome of all this is that Mill developed a type of melancholic character who almost pushed him to the depths of depression, only rescued by his second marriage in his mid-life, when he embraced a lot of libertarian and anti-establishment proposals.
The writting styles of the two are blatantly different, James being the pragmatical dogmatist who accepted no exception to his utilitarian praecepts, Mill, on the contrary, the soft-minded scholar who diligently tried to mend the many defficiencies of a theory so rigidly framed and which was supposed to answer to all demands of human action. This dogmatism by Bentham, forced Mill later in life to abscond that doctrine, althoug never converting himself to any religion creed. Worthy of mention if the superb introduction by Alan Ryan, being a book on utilitarianism in itself.

Utility and Democracy: The Political Thought of Jeremy Bentham

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Utility and Democracy: The Political Thought of Jeremy Bentham
Philip Schofield
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Volver [Region 99]
The Last King of Scotland (Widescreen Edition)
My Country, My Country
Children of Men (Widescreen Edition)
When the Levees Broke

ASIN: 0198208561

Book Description

This book is the first comprehensive historical account of the political thought of Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), the philosopher and reformer. Professor Schofield draws on his extensive knowledge of Bentham's unpublished manuscripts and original printed texts, and on the new, authoritative edition of The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham. A compelling narrative charts the way in which Bentham applied his utilitarian philosophy to the rapidly changing circumstances of his age. Professor Schofield begins with a lucid account of Bentham's insights in the fields of logic and language, and in particular his theory of real and fictitious entities, which lie at the foundation of his thought. Professor Schofield proceeds to show how these insights brought Bentham to the principle of utility, which led him in turn to produce the first systematic defence of democracy from a utilitarian perspective. In contrast to previous scholarship, which claims that Bentham's 'conversion' or 'transition' to political radicalism took place either at the time of the French Revolution or following his meeting with James Mill in 1808 or 1809, Professor Schofield shows that the process began in or around 1804 when the notion of sinister interest emerged in Bentham's thought. Bentham appreciated that rulers, rather than being motivated by a desire to promote the greatest happiness of those subject to them, aimed to promote their own happiness, whatever the overall cost to the community. In his constitutional writings of the 1820s, which he addressed to 'all nations professing liberal opinions', Bentham argued that the proper end of constitutional design was to maximize official aptitude and minimize government expense, and that the publicity of official actions, within the context of a republican system of government where sovereignty lay in the people, was the means to achieve it. Bentham's commitment to radical reform led him to advocate the abolition of the British monarchy and House of Lords, the replacement of the Common Law with a codified system of law, and the 'euthanasia' of the Anglican Church.

Bentham: A Fragment on Government (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)

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Bentham: A Fragment on Government (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)
Jeremy Bentham
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Hume: Political Essays (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)
Two Treatises of Government

ASIN: 0521359295

Book Description

This volume makes available one of the central texts in the development of utilitarian tradition, in the authoritative 1977 edition prepared by Professors Burns and Hart as part of Bentham's Collected Works. Certain that history was on his side, Bentham sought to rid the world of the hideous mess wrought by legal obfuscation and confusion, and to transform politics into a rational, scientific activity, premised on the fundamental axiom that "it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong."

On Bentham (Wadsworth Philosophers Series)

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On Bentham (Wadsworth Philosophers Series)
James E. Crimmins
Manufacturer: Wadsworth Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0534252273

Book Description

ON BENTHAM, like other titles in the Wadsworth Philosopher's Series, offers a concise, yet comprehensive, introduction to this philosopher's most important ideas. Presenting the most important insights of well over a hundred seminal philosophers in both the Eastern and Western traditions, the Wadsworth Philosophers Series contains volumes written by scholars noted for their excellence in teaching and for their well-versed comprehension of each featured philosopher's major works and contributions. These titles have proven valuable in a number of ways. Serving as standalone texts when tackling a philosophers' original sources or as helpful resources for focusing philosophy students' engagements with these philosopher's often conceptually daunting works, these titles have also gained extraordinary popularity with a lay readership and quite often serve as "refreshers" for philosophy instructors.

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