Jeremy Bentham is a famous philosopher, most widely known for being the ‘father of utilitarianism’ along with his contemporary John Stuart Mill. More specifically, he held hedonistic accounts of Utilitarianism, with his “greatest happiness principle” (Sweet). However, Bentham was also a successful economist and political reformer after earning his degree in law. Another contribution to the academic world is his commitment to reforming the legal and education systems. He started out as a lawyer, who in his first year of practicing found the principle of utility, which grasped him and anchored him in philosophy instead (Crimmins). In his moral philosophy he was influenced greatly by Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltarie, and later by Locke and Hume (Sweet).
His most famous contribution to philosophy is the view he also posited on utilitarianism. In general, this is a consequentialist theory (meaning that the morality of an action is based on the consequences it produces), with the specification that a morally right action is the one that maximizes utility. The definition and measure of utility is something that differs for each philosopher, but in Bentham’s case, utility is happiness. Furthermore, Jeremy Bentham includes a happiness principle and more specifically, hedonism into his version of utilitarianism. Hedonism in general is the idea that people want happiness and to avoid pain. Thus, combining the two views of Hedonism and utilitarianism, one arrives at a basic understanding of Bentham’s theory of utilitarianism, namely that a person or group of people ought to do the action that maximizes happiness (pleasure) and minimizes pain. It is interesting to note though that Bentham and Mill go further than just saying that pain and pleasure are what constitute actions to be right or wrong, but that these two values are what motivate humans in all actions (West). As mentioned, the metric of happiness (or any value used for utility) is extremely difficult to measure, but Bentham argued that it is theoretically possible to calculate happiness (West). This theory of calculating the amount of pain or pleasure one experiences is a fascinating subject to many historians and philosophers. His method was coined “felicific calculus” and it relied on assigning value to an individual pain or pleasure based on intensity, duration, “certainty or uncertainty”, and its “propinquity or remoteness” (Crimmins).
Aside from utilitarianism, Bentham is widely known for his political philosophy and legal reform. Interestingly, he spent a lot of time immersing himself in the prison system and theorizing criminal punishment in particular. His work Panopticon Or the Inspection House, was based on the prisons and his theoretical prison system. He also wrote, The Rationale for Punishment, which focused on why and how punishment should be carried out in a society. This area of work that he did has a fascinating tie to utilitarianism though because he argues that punishment should inflict the right quality and kind of pain for the action committed (Crimmins). Jeremy Bentham also set forth thirteen principles to follow in order to avoid cruel and unusual amounts of punishment (Crimmins). Furthermore, he spent a lot of time thinking about the morality of the death penalty, where he ultimately decided that no offense was able to illicit the death penalty (Crimmins).
Overall, Jeremy Bentham immersed himself in various areas of philosophy, namely, social and political, economic, and most of all moral philosophy. In doing so, he carried his theory of utilitarianism throughout all the disciplines of philosophy. More specifically, pain and pleasure were the center of his works, as they are what govern human nature.
Works Cited:
Crimmins, James E. “Jeremy Bentham.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 8 Dec. 2021, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/bentham/.
Sweet, William. “Jeremy Bentham (1784-1832).” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://iep.utm.edu/jeremy-bentham/
West, Henry R. “Utilitarianism.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 26 July 1999, https://www.britannica.com/topic/utilitarianism-philosophy.