Abstract
Jeremy Bentham, English philosopher and reformer, was the founder of classical utilitarianism, the doctrine that an action was morally right to the extent that it promoted the greatest happiness of the greatest number. In Bentham’s hands, the principle of utility provided a critical standard by which to test the value of existing practices, laws, and institutions, and to suggest reform and improvement. His basic premise in political economy was that wealth would be most effectively produced where the individual was left free from government intervention, though government had a crucial role in providing the background conditions of security without which civilized life was impossible.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Bibliography
Dinwiddy, J. 2004. Bentham: Selected writings of John Dinwiddy. Edited by W. Twining. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Harrison, R. 1983. Bentham. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Hart, H.L.A. 1982. Essays on Bentham: Jurisprudence and political theory. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Kelly, P.J. 1990. Utilitarianism and distributive justice: Jeremy Bentham and the civil law. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Lieberman, D. 2000. Economy and polity in Bentham’s science of legislation. In Economy, polity, and society: British intellectual history, 1750–1950, ed. S. Collini, R. Whatmore, and B. Young. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Postema, G.J. 1986. Bentham and the common law tradition. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Rosen, F. 2003. Classical utilitarianism from Hume to Mill. London: Routledge.
Schofield, P. 2006. Utility and democracy: The political thought of Jeremy Bentham. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Semple, J. 1993. Bentham’s prison: A study of the panopticon penitentiary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Warke, T. 2000. Multi-dimensional utility and the index number problem: Jeremy Bentham, J.S. Mill, and qualitative hedonism. Utilitas 12: 176–203.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Schofield, P. (2018). Bentham, Jeremy (1748–1832). In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_566
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_566
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95188-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences