An Introduction To The Principles Of Morals And Legislation - Softcover

Jeremy Bentham

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0371877342 ISBN 13: 9780371877340

Publisher: HardPress

Synopsis

"An Introduction To The Principles Of Morals And Legislation" by Jeremy Bentham. Bentham's Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation lays out the foundational doctrine of utilitarianism, arguing that happiness, defined as pleasure and the avoidance of pain, is the guiding aim of all human action and the basis for both moral judgment and legislative design. The work centers on the Principle of Utility, described as the property in any object whereby it tends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, or happiness for the community. It explains how to measure utility by considering intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity, and the extent of effects across individuals. Bentham then outlines how government should evaluate laws and punishments by their tendency to promote overall happiness, introducing four sanctions (physical, political, moral, and religious) as sources of pleasure and pain. The Introduction also sketches topics such as consequences, motives, consciousness, dispositions, and the classification of offenses as a framework for a comprehensive, terminis-based code. It thus sets a rational, codifiable foundation for moral and legislative science.

Edition details

• Publisher: HardPress
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0371877342
• ISBN 13: 9780371877340
• Binding: Paperback