Benthams Utilitarianism in Victorian England :: European Europe History

Benthams Utilitarianism in Victorian England The philosophy of Utilitarianism influenced many of the social make betters in Great Britain during the early half of the nineteenth century. The name most ofttimes associated with Utilitarianism is that of Jeremy Bentham. Benthams philosophical principles extended into the realm of government. These principles have been associated with several reform acts entered into side of meat law such as the Factory operation of 1833, the Poor integrity Amendment Act of 1834, the Prison Act of 1835, the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, the Committee on Education in 1839,the Lunacy Act of 1845, and the Public Health Act of 1845. In terms of their effect on Victorian era reform Benthams two most influential works appear to be An admission to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789) and Constitutional Code (1830-1841). Utilitarianism as a philosophy was also kn declare as Benthamism or Philosophical Radicalism. Opponents to utilitarian public opinion included Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin, and Charles Dickens. Benthams basic premise to his philosophy nooky be found in An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation disposition has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain in the ass and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do as well as to determine what we shall do (225) 1. Along with this idea of pleasure and pain as sovereign masters Bentham introduced what he called the principle of utility. This principle can be summarized as the principle that every action should be judged right or slander according to how farther it tends to promote or damage the triumph of the community (29),2 Bentham believed that human behavior was motivated by the desire to start some pleasure and to avoid some pain. In Introduction to the Principles he states that it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong (229) 1. These p rinciples were intended by Bentham to be a precept addressed to the legislators, to those liable for the management of society (27)2. Bentham hoped to affect some social change preferably than to merely influence intellectual beliefs. He even went so far as to suggest that legislators should regulate the ways in which individuals sought their own happiness. The idea of punishment and reward were to be the means by which the legislator could break the peoples pursuit of happiness. Rewards were regarded as a less important method than punishments.