Bentham: A Guide for the Perplexed (Guides for the Perplexed)

Bentham: A Guide for the Perplexed presents a clear account of his life and thought, and highlights his relevance to contemporary debates in philosophy, politics, and law. Key concepts and themes, including Bentham's theory of logic and language, his utilitarianism, his legal theory, his panopticon prison, and his democratic politics-together with his views on religion, sex, and torture-are lucidly explored. The book also contains an illuminating discussion of the nature of the text from the perspective of an experienced textual editor.

Philip Schofield is Professor of the History of Legal and Political Thought at University College London. He is Director of the Bentham Project and General Editor of The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham. He has written many scholarly articles on Bentham and his monograph, Utility and Democracy: The Political Thought of Jeremy Bentham, published by OUP, won the Political Studies Association WJM Mackenzie Book Prize for 2006.