Jeremy Bentham

Influenced by:  John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Adam Smith

Influenced: John Stuart Mill
Era: 18th Century
Main Ideas: Utilitarianism
Books: The Principles of Morals and Legislation

QUOTATION:
"Nature has placed man 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. We owe to them all our ideas; we refer to them all our judgments and all the
determinations of life" – Bentham.

The said truth is that it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of
right and wrong.

Utilitarianism
1. Psychological Hedonism – Human beings are rational – Seek to maximize happiness -Empiricist
View of Human Nature

2. Pleasure is the supreme good – an end in itself

3. Good and Bad – Pleasure and Pain - Moral/Ethical Philosophy: It is the greatest happiness of
the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong i.e. the best action is the one
which maximizes utility and brings about the best state of affairs - Utilitarianism is a form of
Consequentialism (Consequences determine the rightness/wrongness of an action).

4. Source of Legislation – General/Social Happiness

Bentham also suggests that individuals would reasonably seek the general happiness
simply because the interests of others are inextricably bound up with their own, though
he recognized that this is something that is easy for individuals to ignore. Nevertheless,
Bentham envisages a solution to this as well. Specifically, he proposes that making this
identification of interests obvious and, when necessary, bringing diverse interests
together would be the responsibility of the legislator.

5. Felicific/Hedonic Calculus
 Bentham proposed a proper method called Felicific Calculus consisting of 12 Pains and 14
Pleasures, to calculate the Happiness Factor of any action. This concept of pleasure and pain is
defined by Bentham as physical as well as spiritual. He argues that the concept of the individual
pursuing his or her own happiness cannot be necessarily declared "right", because often these
individual pursuits can lead to greater pain and less pleasure for a society as a whole. Therefore,
the legislation of a society is vital to maintain the maximum pleasure and the minimum degree of
pain for the greatest number of people.

 Intensity
 Duration
 Certainty
 Extent
 Proximity in time

Theory of Punishment linked with Utilitarianism  A theory of

Distributive Justice

1. Quantification: Punishment had to provide a variable quantity of pain in response to the

varying quantities of mischief caused by offences.

2. Motive: At the root of all his practical suggestions for punishment lies his treatment of an
individual’s motivation to act. Understanding what motivates the individual to offend is
presented as the key to understanding how to prevent such offending

3. Bentham held that punishment should be preventive and corrective rather than
coercive and retaliatory. (Distribution of Pain, rather than Retribution)

4. Offences must be classified solely on the basis of the harm perpetrated, and there must
be an appropriate proportion between crimes and punishments.

5. Calculation of Utility

 Punishment must be sufficient to secure its ends i.e. secure the extension of good and
prevent the spread of evil. It ought to be able to prevent the offender from repeating the
offence. Punishment must not be inflicted where it was ineffective, groundless, needless
or unprofitable. According to Bentham, the only valid test of the adequacy of a
punishment was its ability to secure public welfare. 

Example: Utility of Death Penalty

 In his essay “On Death Punishment”, the benefits and costs of the death penalty in
cases of murder are assessed in comparison with life imprisonment with hard labor.
 Deterrence (if prisoners could be seen to be suffering, then the purpose of the punishment
could be better fulfilled)

 It is in-equable in its application, falling mainly on the shoulders of the poor

 It is a form of punishment that is irremissible in the face of judicial error.

Bentham’s Preferred Forms of Punishment:

 Imprisonment, especially Panoptic Imprisonment was preferred by Bentham.

 Deterrence was a primary aim, and if prisoners could be seen to be suffering, then the
purpose of the punishment could be better fulfilled.

 The Panopticon is a type of institutional building and a system of control designed by the

English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century.

 The scheme of the design is to allow all (pan-) inmates of an institution to be observed by a

watchman without the inmates being able to tell whether or not they are being watched. As the
watchmen cannot be seen, they need not be on duty at all times, effectively leaving the watching
to the watched. This scheme effectively compels the inmates to constantly control their own
behavior. 
 Bentham envisaged the Panopticon as an institution operating primarily on the psychological
motivations of those incarcerated
 The community would be protected from convicted criminals.
 The inmates would be protected from cruel treatment. Prisoners should be deprived
only of liberty not health or life.
 Prisoners were to be kept clean and their labor made productive and profitable,
including the development of skills that might be useful to them when released.
(Rehabilitation)

 The ‘reform’ can be achieved both by punishment and reward. If incarcerated, for example,
individuals will be habituated to new routines and activities designed to prepare them for
‘survival’ in an industrial environment. They will be rewarded when their behavior is deemed
non-offensive by the governing authorities

Criticism of Bentham
1. Criticism of Consequentialism  Deontology

 It would be acceptable to torture one person if this would produce an amount of

happiness in other people outweighing the unhappiness of the tortured individual.
 Collateral Damage (Village Scenario during War)

2. Tyranny of the Majority? Suppression of Individual Choices

3. All pleasures are considered equal in character

Criticism of Utilitarianism:

 Quantifying Utility is difficult: The main objection to utilitarianism is the inability to

quantify, compare, or measure happiness or well-being. If we understand “utility” broadly enough
to include all potentially desirable ends—pleasure, knowledge, friendship, health and so on—it's
not clear that there is a unique correct way to make the tradeoffs between different goods
Personal preferences? Absence of any objective measurement.

Karl Marx, in Das Capital, criticizes Bentham's utilitarianism on the grounds that it does not
appear to recognize that different people have different joys.

 Predicting Consequences is difficult: Consequences are inherently unknowable

 Demandingness makes it Impractical: Utilitarianism not only requires everyone to do

what they can to maximize utility, but to do so without any favoritism. Critics say that this
combination of requirements leads to utilitarianism making unreasonable demands. The well-
being of strangers counts just as much as that of friends, family or self. (This can also be
considered a good point of Utilitarianism i.e. its fundamental commitment to Human Equality).