Benthamism / Utilitarianism
idea · 1 work · 2 mentions · 11 anchored passages
Benthamism · utilitarianism · greatest happiness principle · the Benthamite creed · the greatest happiness of the greatest number
in the texts
Lectures on the Relation between Law and Public Opinion in England
The utilitarian legal-reform doctrine originated by Bentham, centered on the greatest-happiness principle, whose acceptance and influence the passage traces.
The essential strength, however, of utilitarianism lay far less in the transitory circumstances of a particular time than in its correspondence with tendencies of English thought and feeling which have exhibited a character of permanence.
From 1832 onwards the supremacy of individualism among the classes then capable of influencing legislation was for many years incontestable and patent.
Two questions remain for consideration, which to a student of opinion are of profound interest—First, Why did the Benthamite creed obtain ready acceptance?