Born: 2/15/1748   Died: 6/6/1832

Jeremy Bentham was an English jurist and philosopher. He was born to a middle class family and attended Oxford. He studied law, and though he never practiced he did become an influential jurist and social reformer. Bentham’s philosophical views are generally democratic, and include quantitative hedonism and utilitarianism. He developed his moral theory in support of his reform activities. He advocated prison reform, legislative codification, and extension of suffrage. He advocated extending moral consideration to non-human animals and wrote but did not publish arguments for the liberalization of homosexuality laws. In An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation he argues that hedonistic utilitarianism should guide individual and social morality, including a deterrence justification of punishment. His A Fragment on Government criticizes Blackstone’s intuitionist and contractualist thought. Bentham defended the revolution in France and judiciously recommended the British withdraw from the American colonies rather than fight an extended overseas war. He criticized rights-based moral theories, popularized by the American and French revolutions, as either vacuous or giving justification to standing unfair laws. Bentham’s thought had far-reaching effects on legislation and Parliamentary reform, and was highly influential on fellow utilitarian John Stuart Mill.