
Jeremy Bentham
Michael Quinn(Author)
Polity Press
1st Edition
Published on 25. November 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
250 pages
978-1-5095-2191-3 (ISBN)
Description
Jeremy Bentham - philosopher, theorist of law and of the art of government - was among the most influential figures of the early nineteenth century, and the approach he pioneered - utilitarianism - remains central to the modern world.
In this new introduction to his ideas, Michael Quinn shows how Bentham sought to be an engineer or architect of choices and to illuminate the methods of influencing human conduct to good ends, by focussing on how people react to the various physical, legal, institutional, normative and cultural factors which confront them as decision-makers. Quinn examines how Bentham adopted utility as the critical standard for the development and evaluation of government and public policy, and explains how he sought to apply this principle to a range of areas, from penal law to democratic reform, before concluding with an assessment of his influence. He argues that Bentham simultaneously sought both to facilitate the implementation of governmental will and to expose misrule by rendering all exercises of public power transparent to the public on whose behalf it was exercised.
This book will be essential reading for any student or scholar of Bentham, as well as those interested in the history of political thought, philosophy, politics, ethics, and utilitarianism.
In this new introduction to his ideas, Michael Quinn shows how Bentham sought to be an engineer or architect of choices and to illuminate the methods of influencing human conduct to good ends, by focussing on how people react to the various physical, legal, institutional, normative and cultural factors which confront them as decision-makers. Quinn examines how Bentham adopted utility as the critical standard for the development and evaluation of government and public policy, and explains how he sought to apply this principle to a range of areas, from penal law to democratic reform, before concluding with an assessment of his influence. He argues that Bentham simultaneously sought both to facilitate the implementation of governmental will and to expose misrule by rendering all exercises of public power transparent to the public on whose behalf it was exercised.
This book will be essential reading for any student or scholar of Bentham, as well as those interested in the history of political thought, philosophy, politics, ethics, and utilitarianism.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 228 mm
Width: 149 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
352 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5095-2191-3 (9781509521913)
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions



Person
Michael Quinn is a Visiting Research Fellow at Philipps University Marburg and Justus Liebig University Gießen. He was previously Senior Research Associate at the Bentham Project at University College London.
Content
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter1: Life and Logic: what matters, and why?
Chapter 2: The principle of utility: raising the fabric of felicity by the hands of reason and law
Chapter 3: Direct Legislation: Bentham and Penal Law
Chapter 4: Indirect Legislation
Chapter 5: Civil Law and Political Economy
Chapter 6: Principals, Agents and Institutional Design (I): Panoptic Architecture and Management
Chapter 7: Principals, Agents and Institutional Design (II): The Prevention of Misrule
Chapter 8: International Law, the world next door
Chapter 9: Jeremy Bentham: why bother?
Notes
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter1: Life and Logic: what matters, and why?
Chapter 2: The principle of utility: raising the fabric of felicity by the hands of reason and law
Chapter 3: Direct Legislation: Bentham and Penal Law
Chapter 4: Indirect Legislation
Chapter 5: Civil Law and Political Economy
Chapter 6: Principals, Agents and Institutional Design (I): Panoptic Architecture and Management
Chapter 7: Principals, Agents and Institutional Design (II): The Prevention of Misrule
Chapter 8: International Law, the world next door
Chapter 9: Jeremy Bentham: why bother?
Notes