Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham was an English philosopher, jurist, and social reformer best known as a founder of classical utilitarianism. An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, Theory of Legislation, A Fragment on Government, and his collected works develop arguments about pleasure, pain, law, punishment, rights, administration, and the greatest happiness principle.

For English-language readers, Bentham is important because he tried to make ethics and law answerable to public consequences rather than inherited authority. His thought influenced legal reform, political theory, economics, prison design, and later liberal philosophy. Readers interested in utilitarian ethics, jurisprudence, political philosophy, reform movements, punishment, and Enlightenment social thought will find a major and provocative figure.