Jeremy Bentham

1. Jeremy Bentham

 He was an English political philosopher known as the originator of utilitarianism.

He wrote An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation.

Utilitarianism and 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number' are often misunderstood or distorted.

2. Political philosophy

 I like rustic utilitarianism, so someday I want to criticize A Theory of Justice by John Rawls and communitarianism by Michael J. Sandel.

John Stuart Mill was a great political philosopher, but he changed utilitarianism in quality.
I don't like to classify the pleasurs as higher or lower.

But I absolutely agree with harm principle.

"The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others." (From On Liberty, John Stuart Mill)

Harm principle is the essence of liberalism.

3. Modern utilitarianism

 A Theory of Justice by John Rawls was breakthrough achievements of political philosophy.
After him, no one can ignore his theory.

But utilitarianism is not a dead theory.
Some researchers are studying it.
Classical utilitarianism has evolved into modern utilitarianism.

Peter Singer is very famous.
Animal Liberation by him is one of the greatest ideological grounds of vegetarianism or veganism.

4. My opinion

 Now, science has progressed, and the mystery of human beings also has been studied.
I think that utilitarianism can not explain the mystery of human beings enough.

Utilitarianism should not be applied as the theory of morals or ethics.
Utilitarianism should be applied as the theory of political measuring instrument.

I call it 'political utilitarianism'.
Someday I want to complete and translate it into English.

- To read this article in Japanese