Work · Empiricism, Enlightenment & Liberalism
An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation
Pain and pleasure as sovereign masters – the principle of utility.
Introduction
Bentham had the book printed in 1780 but held it back and published it only in 1789. It was meant as an introduction to a penal code. The first chapter begins: “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure.” Chapter IV lists the dimensions by which pleasures and pains are to be measured, among them intensity, duration, certainty, nearness, fecundity, purity and extent. Later chapters classify offences and punishments. A footnote in the last chapter argues that what matters in the treatment of animals is not whether they can reason or talk, but whether they can suffer.
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Connections
Builds on
- A Treatise of Human Nature1739 · David Hume
Taken up in
- Utilitarianism1863 · John Stuart Mill
- Animal Liberation1975 · Peter Singer
More works by Jeremy Bentham
- 1791Panopticon
Appears in
- Journey ‘What Is Just?’ · Stop 6 of 10
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