Front Page Titles (by Subject) Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham

1748 - 1832

About the Author

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) trained as a lawyer and founded the early 19th century school of political thought known as “Benthamism” later called utilitarianism - based on the idea that governments should act so as to promote “the greatest good of the greatest number” of people. He spent much of his life attempting to drawn up an ideal Constitutional Code, but he was also active in parliamentary reform, education, and prison reform. He influenced the thinking of James Mill and his son John Stuart Mill. [The image comes from “The Warren J. Samuels Portrait Collection at Duke University.”]

In The Library:

• author: British Moralists, being Selections from Writers principally of the Eighteenth Century, vol. 1 (1897)
• author: Defence of Usury (1787)
• author: An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1823)
• author: A Protest against Law-Taxes (1818)
• author: The Works of Jeremy Bentham, 11 vols. (1843)
• author: The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 1 (Principles of Morals and Legislation, Fragment on Government, Civil Code, Penal Law) (1843)
• author: The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 2 (Judicial Procedure, Anarchical Fallacies, works on Taxation) (1843)
• author: The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 3 (Usury, Political Economy, Equity, Parliamentary Reform) (1843)
• author: The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 4 (Panopticon, Constitution, Colonies, Codification) (1843)
• author: The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 5 (Scotch Reform, Real Property, Codification Petitions) (1843)
• author: The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 6 (Rationale of Evidence, Rationale of Judicial Evidence) (1843)
• author: The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 7 (Rationale of Judicial Evidence Part 2) (1843)
• author: The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 8 (Chrestomathia, Essays on Logic and Grammar, Tracts on Poor Laws, Tracts on Spanish Affairs) (1843)
• author: The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 9 (Constitutional Code) (1843)
• author: The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 10 (Memoirs Part I and Correspondence) (1843)
• author: The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 11 (Memoirs of Bentham Part II and Analytical Index) (1843)

Quotations:

• Jeremy Bentham relates a number of “abominations” to the French National Convention urging them to emancipate their colonies (1793) (6 August, 2007)
• Bentham on the proper role of government: “Be Quiet” and “Stand out of my sunshine” (1843) (6 October, 2010)
• Bentham on how “the ins” and “the outs” lie to the people in order to get into power (1843) (15 February, 2012)
• Bentham on the liberty of contracts and lending money at interest (1787) (14 December, 2012)