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Western Political Thought

Notes As a result, many of Bentham’s works remained incomplete, and very few got published. This
constant reworking made it difficult to establish the textual integrity of his thought, which became
evident while reading the actual manuscript and the published work by his nineteenth-century
editor, Bowring. Another related problem was the difficulty in discerning Bentham’s original
ideas from those of his followers, who invoked his name for much that they conceived.
Bentham died on June 6, 1832.

9.2 Meaning of Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism as a school of thought dominated English political thinking from the middle of the
eighteenth century to the middle of the nineteenth. Some of the early Utilitarians were Francis
Hutcheson (1694-1746), Hume, Helvetius, Priestly, William Paley (1743-1805), and Beccaria. But it
was Bentham who systematically laid down its theory, and made it popular on the basis of his
innumerable proposals for reform. “Bentham’s merit consisted, not in the doctrine, but in his
vigorous application of it to various practical problems”.
Through James Mill, Bentham developed close links with Thomas Malthus (1766-1834) and David
Ricardo (1772-1838), getting acquainted with the ideas of the Classical economists. This group
collectively styled themselves as Philosophic Radicals, with the aim of transforming England into
a modern, liberal, democratic, constitutional, secular, and market state. Utilitarianism was used
interchangeably with philosophic radicalism, individualism, laissez faire and administrative
nihilism.
Only in England, which throughout the nineteenth century was the most highly
industrialized country in the world, did liberalism achieve the status at once of a
national philosophy and a national policy. Here, contrary to the expectation implied
by Marxism, it provided the principles for an orderly and peaceful transition, first to
complete freedom for industry and the enfranchisement of the middle class and
ultimately to the enfranchisement of the working class and their protection against the
most serious hazards of industry. This was possible because the cleavage between
social and economic classes in England never coincided exactly with the lines between
political parties. Even in its earlier stage, when its economic theories in particular
represented clearly the interest of industrialists, English liberalism in intention at least
was always a theory of the general good of the whole national community... . It was
the Philosophical Radicals, however, who provided the intellectual structure of early
liberalism and therefore its programme.
The basic premise of Utilitarianism was that human beings as a rule sought happiness, that
pleasure alone was good, and that the only right action was that which produced the greatest
happiness of the greatest number. Bentham and the Utilitarians reiterated the ideas of the Greek
thinker Epicures, who had stated that individuals sometimes pursued pleasure wisely and at
other times unwisely.
In the hands of Bentham, the pleasure-pain theory evolved into a scientific principle to be applied
to the policies of the state, welfare measures and for administrative, penal and legislative reforms.
He shared Machiavelli’s concern for a science of politics, not in the sense of understanding the
dynamics of political power, but in the hope of promoting and securing the happiness of individuals
through legislation and policies.
Utilitarianism provided a psychological perspective on human nature, for it perceived human
beings as creatures of pleasure. Using the yardstick of utility, Bentham and his followers desired
the restructuring of government and legal institutions so as to maximize individual happiness. In
the process, they realized the imperative need to codify laws, making them instruments of reform
and happiness.

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