Bentham's political thought

Bentham's Political Thought

Bentham, Jeremy

Parekh, Bhikhu (ed)

Croom Helm

One of the most important nineteenth-century schools of thought, Utilitarianism propounds the view that the value or rightness of an action rests in how well it promotes the welfare of those affected by it, aiming for 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number'. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was the movement's founder, as much a social reformer as a philosopher. His greatest interpreter, John Stuart Mill (1806-73), set out to humanize Bentham's pragmatic Utilitarianism by balancing the claims of reason and the imagination, individuality and social well-being in essays such as 'Bentham', 'Coleridge' and, above all, Utilitarianism. The works by Bentham and Mill collected in this volume show the creation and development of a system of ethics that has had an enduring influence on moral philosophy and legislative policy. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Utilitarianism and Other Essays

Mill, John-Stuart

History

Penguin Classics

In 1824 Bentham conceived the idea of publishing a collection of essays in order to illustrate his own ideal of constitutional law, encapsulated in the aphorism "aptitude maximized, expense minimized" and to contrast it with practice under the British constitution, which he believed to be based on entirely the opposite principle. The volume was published in 1830 and was intended to complement the detailed administrative provisions which he had been drafting for his Constitutional Code, the major endeavor of the final decade of his life. The two works are therefore closely related, both chronologically and thematically. For this latest volume in the new critical edition of the works and correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, Philip Schofield has undertaken a complete survey of the manuscripts composed by Bentham in the process of drafting the papers which formed Official Aptitude, and included hitherto unpublished essays in the three Appendices.

Official Aptitude Maximized: Expense Minimized (The ^ACollected Works of Jeremy Bentham)

Europe

Clarendon Press

An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislations, Jeremy Bentham's best-known work, is a classic text in modern philosophy and jurisprudence. First published in 1789, it contains the important statement of the foundations of utilitarian philosophy and a pioneering study of crime and punishment, both of which remain at the heart of contemporary debates in moral and political philosophy, economics, and legal theory. A new introduction by the leading Bentham scholar F. Rosen, specially written for this edition, provides students with a helpful survey of Bentham's main ideas and an extensive bibliographical study of recent critical work on Bentham.

An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (The ^ACollected Works of Jeremy Bentham)

Bentham's central concern during the 1810s and 1820s was with the codification of the law. The materials presented in this volume constitute not only the basis for a biography of Bentham during these years, but also an important and illuminating account of his mature legal and political theory.

Legislator of the World: Writings on Codification, Law, and Education (The ^ACollected Works of Jeremy Bentham)

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Political Tactics, composed for the Estates General in the months just prior to the outbreak of the French Revolution, is one of Jeremy Bentham's most original works. It contains the earliest and perhaps most important theoretical analysis of parliamentary procedure ever written. With typical thoroughness and insight, Bentham discusses such central themes as the publicity of procedings, the rules of debate, and the proper steps to be taken in composing, proposing, and voting on a motion.

Political Tactics (The ^ACollected Works of Jeremy Bentham)

This eleventh volume of Bentham's Correspondence contains nearly three hundred letters, and covers the period from January 1822 to June 1824. By the early 1820s Bentham had acquired an international reputation, and corresponded with leading figures in Europe, the United States of America, and many of the newly independent states of Central and South America.

The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham: Volume 11: January 1822 to June 1824 (The ^ACollected Works of Jeremy Bentham)

This is the major work of Bentham's last years. In this work, he develops in a final form the theory and institutions of an ideal representative democracy addressed to "all nations and all governments professing liberal opinions."

Constitutional Code, Vol. 1 (The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham)

Reference

Words, Language & Grammar

Oxford University Press

A critical edition of three works of Bentham, Deontology and The Article on Utilitarianism were previously unpublished. Together with An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, they provide a comrehensive exposition of Bentham's views. Based entirely on manuscripts by Bentham of his amanuenses, this edition's full introduction linking the three works. Each work is supplemented with detailed and critical notes.

Deontology together with A Table of the Springs of Action and the Article on Utilitarianism (The ^ACollected Works of Jeremy Bentham)

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham Chrestomathia

Chrestomathia (The ^ACollected Works of Jeremy Bentham)

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

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