Page 163 - DPOL201_WESTERN_POLITICAL_THOUGHT_ENGLISH

Unit 9: Jeremy Bentham

Curiously, the phrase “greatest happiness of the greatest number” used for the first time in 1776, Notes
and frequently associated with Bentham, did not reappear for the next 40 years. Though he did
not invent the phrase, he was undoubtedly its best popularizer. Initially, he used the phrase
“greatest happiness of all”, which he gave up, for it suggested that the interests of some could be
subordinated to those of others. It also implied that the happiness of the majority was all that
mattered. If the suffering of one person was greater than the accumulated happiness of many, that
was not acceptable. Therefore, he substituted the phrase with “greatest happiness of the greatest
number”, using it with greater frequency in the 1820s in his crusade for radical reforms. Bentham
was categorical that since persons differed very little in their capacity to experience pain and pleasure,
they had to be treated equally in a manner that gave their pleasures due regard and consideration.
In fact, Bentham was not happy about the word “utilitarian”, but continued to use it for want of any
other alternate and effective word. For a while, he thought of using ‘eudaimonologist’ or ‘felicist’.
Bentham remained convinced throughout his life on the science of legislation, retaining his belief
that an expert legislator could skillfully legislate with a view to ensuring the greatest happiness of
the greatest number. In order to do this, a legislator should be able to understand human actions
and encourage those with appropriate sanctions that could contribute to the greatest happiness.
The medieval conception of the magistrate administering the law of God by a system
of rewards and punishments according to a divine scale of good and evil reappeared
in Bentham’s philosophy in the guise of a legislator determining good and evil according
to the criterion of human happi-ness now accurately ascertained by scientific methods.
Bentham also discussed indirect legislation, namely public instruction and propaganda, through
which the legislator could influence human conduct, strengthen moral or popular sanction (i.e.
general opinion), and change people’s behaviour via their love for reputation. “Since according to
Bentham ‘society’ was nothing but a convenient fiction for an aggregate of individuals, the recipe
for success consisted of knowing how to manage ‘others’. A man must keep well with public
opinion” (Wolin 1960: 346). For instance, drunkenness and idleness, which caused crime, could be
tackled by promoting the consumption of non-alcoholic drinks, cultivating innocent amusements
like gardening, music, athletic and sedentary games.
Unemployment could be prevented by providing for public works. In this, he was a predecessor
of Keynes. Moreover, the love of reputation in a human being could be cultivated by inculcating
the value of virtue through stories and literary works that presented good in attractive and vice in
ugly terms. Bentham’s schemes of the panopticon, and the National Charity Company aimed to
balance the claims of humanity with those of the economy, to ensure human welfare without
incurring heavy expenses, wastage, inefficiency and patronage.
Besides laws and indirect legislation, Bentham regarded private ethics as the third mode of
influencing human behaviour. Its purpose was not to judge or arbitrate morals, but to teach and
instruct individuals to maximize their own happiness. In this context, he suggested the use of a
savings bank or General Goodwill Fund, where acts of beneficence that did not benefit the agent
could be deposited and from which they could be withdrawn in due course. Unlike the moralists,
Bentham did not emphasize the need to make sacrifices with a view to promoting general happiness.
In general, he recommended economy of sacrifice. Though one could argue that it was desirable
to sacrifice a lesser quantity of happiness for attaining a greater quantity, it was equally true that
a large amount of happiness would remain intact if less quantity was sacrificed. Bentham’s view
of human nature was guided by a favourite statement from Helvetius, that “to love one’s fellowmen,
one must not expect much from them”.
Bentham regarded punishments as both reformatory and deterring, controlling the actions of
human beings. Fond of moral arithmetic, and for the purpose of laying down ground rules, he
stated nine points. By stating these simple ground rules, Bentham hoped that they would become
guidelines for both legislators and judges.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 157