Jeremy Bentham

“Bentham was the first among modern philosophers to place women upon a political equality with men. In Plato’s Republic this equality was to be fully recognized. But after Plato it was completely forgotten for over two thousand years.” (H. Thomas)


Introduction:
Jeremy Bentham was the intellectual leader and the real founder of English utilitarianism; whose deep interest in public affairs covered the period from the American Revolution to the Reform Bill of 1832. He was born in a rich lawyer’s family in 1748 in London. From the very childhood, Bentham was scholarly and pedantic. He learnt Latin when he was only three years old. He also learnt Greek and French and later on he devoted to the study of Jurisprudence and legal philosophy. He received the degree of graduation at the age of fifteen from Queen’s College Oxford. He had an instinctive interest in science and a distinctive talent for introspective psychology. From his youth he showed a passionate devotion to social welfare, identifying himself in imagination and determining to apply to the social sciences the methods that were being worked out in the natural science.

In 1763 Bentham entered Lincoln’s Inn to begin the study which was to be his life-long pursuit. In 1772 after having studied law, he entered the bar for practice. As he grew older, his interests widened and his opinions became more subversive. His supreme mission was to reconstruct the entire legal system on healthier lines.

At the time of his death, he was at the zenith of fame and glory because of his unparalleled contribution in the subject of jurisprudence and legal philosophy. After his death, Doyle says, “He was venerated by a group of disciples, as a Patriarch, a spiritual Leader, almost a God with James Mill as his St. Paul.”

Jeremy Bentham was a prolific writer and he collected works comprised of twenty-two volumes. His writings cover a wide range of interest including ethics, theology, psychology, logic, economics, penology etc. he wrote following most important books:

1. Fragments of Government
2. A Defence of Usury
3. Discourse on Civil and Penal Legislation
4. Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation
5. A Treatise on Judicial Evidence
6. A Theory of Punishments and Rewards
7. Essay on Political Tactics

Importance of Bentham in
History of Political Thought

Bentham holds a distinctive place in the history of political thought. He was more a legal reformer and jurist rather than a political philosopher. He had nothing original in his political doctrine and also he did not create new ideas. Bentham was the first to establish the utilitarian school of thought. Maxey said, “Here was a doctrine to rock the foundations of all accredited political theory. With ruthless logic he brushed aside the ancient varieties of both radical and conservative thought; had erased all distinction in principle between free and despotic politics: had put it down that divine, feudal right, historical right, natural right and constitutional right equally and like were rubbish and nonsense. There was no right to rule and no right to be free, there was only the fact of power and the circumstances which made that power a fact.”


Influence of Utilitarianism:
Utilitarianism, a British gift to political philosophy, represented a British reaction against the value generalities about mutual rights and social contract and the mystic idealism of the German political thinkers. It brought political theory back from the abstractions of the Age of Reform to the level of concrete realities. The utilitarian philosophers particularly Bentham and Austin rendered valuable service to political thought. They were the thinkers who viewed society not from the ivory tower of isolation but from close participation. They were not idealistic, they were not utopian, they were not visionary and their philosophy was not transcendental. They built a new theory of government according to which government was based not on contract but on the habit of obedience of utility.


Achievements of Bentham:
Bentham was a true practical reformer and a great smasher of political evils in his age. He took keen interest in the political life of his country. Bentham and his followers are mainly responsible for the parliamentary reforms in England during the nineteenth century like the Municipal Reform Act of 1835. The following reforms are also due to Bentham’s suggestion:

1. Reform of law and legal procedure
2. University education became universal
3. Establishment of trade union

His theory of law established the point of view of analytic jurisprudence, which was almost the only system of the subject generally known to English and American lawyers throughout the nineteenth century.

Bentham contributed, sometimes on the request, sometimes as volunteer to the revision of the legal codes of many countries. In 1811 he made a formal proposal to President Madison to draw up a scientific code of law for the USA. Later he made a similar offer to the Czar of Russia and to the Governor of Pennsylvania, and in 1822 he appealed to “all nations professing opinions.” His confidence in his ability to create a system of laws guaranteed to promote the greatest good of greatest number was unbounded.

Bentham’s writings became popular in many countries. His doctrines were very popular in Spain, Russia, and Iberian Peninsula and in several parts of South America. His ideas were used by the leaders of the national movements that defeated the Holy Alliance and created new nations on the ruins of the Spanish and Turkish Empires. Such was the tremendous influence which Bentham exercised in the History of Political Thought.