JEREMY BENTHAM:
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JEREMY BENTHAM AND INTERVENTIONIST LIBERALISM
þ JEREMY BENTHAM [1748-1832]
þ PUBLISHED FRAGMENTS ON GOVERNMENT IN 1776.
þ BELIEVED GREATER DEMOCRACY WOULD PROMOTE "THE
GREATEST GOOD FOR THE GREATEST NUMBER."
þ UTILITARIAN PHILOSOPHY.
þ EVERY ACT MORALLY VALUABLE TO EXTENT THAT IT
RESULTED IN HAPPINESS.
þ HUMAN ACTIONS BASED ON POLES OF PLEASURE & PAIN.
NATURE PLACED MANKIND ON UNDER TWO MASTERS:
PLEASURE & PAIN.
þ SOCIAL SYSTEM SHOULD MAX SOCIAL BENEFITS &
DISTRIBUTE THEM AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE:
þ SMALL INCREASE IN HAPPINESS FOR
MANY BETTER
THAN A LARGE INCREASE FOR A
FEW.
þ COMPARISON OF MAGNITUDE OF BENEFITS & COSTS MUST
BE MADE TO DETERMINE BEST SOLN.
þ CAN HAPPINESS OR UTILITY BE QUANTIFIED?
þ YES, SAID BENTHAM.
þ OTHERS SAID NO, ONLY COMPARISONS
CAN BE
MADE:
þ I
PREFER MARY TO JANE
þ I
PREFER APPLES TO ORANGES
þ ABSOLUTE HAPPINESS FROM EATING APPLES
IMPOSSIBLE TO MEASURE.
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JEREMY BENTHAM AND INTERVENTIONIST LIBERALISM
[C]
þ JB SAID PEOPLE IN FACT MAKE DECISIONS ON BASIS OF
UTILITY DERIVED FROM ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF
ACTION.
þ THIS HEDONISTIC CALCULUS WAS PRINCIPLE UNDERLYING
ALL HUMAN ACTION AND MEANS BY WHICH WELFARE OF
SOCIETY MAXIMIZED.
þ YET, PEOPLE ACT ONLY FOR THEIR OWN GREATEST
PLEASURE. WON'T THAT WORK AGAINST THE GREATEST
HAPPINESS OF ALL?
þ WITHOUT GOVN, YES. BUT GOVERNMENT CAN CHANGE THAT
CALCULUS. MORAL & LEGISLATIVE SANCTIONS CAUSE
INDIVIDUAL ACTIONS TO COINCIDE WITH THE PUBLIC
INTEREST:
þ SANCTIONS REWARD INDIVIDUAL ACTIONS
THAT
BENEFIT ALL;
þ SANCTIONS PUNISH ACTIONS THAT DIMINISH
PUBLIC WELFARE.
þ JB VIEWED HUMANS AS PLEASURE MACHINES CONTINUALLY
CALCULATING THE PROS & CONS OF ALTERNATIVE
COURSES OF ACTION.
þ ASSUMPTION THAT INDIV DECISIONS WOULD LEAD TO MAX
PUBLIC WELFARE INHERENT IN ADAM SMITH & OTHER
CLASSICAL ECONOMISTS, BUT BENTHAM MADE EXPLICIT.
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JEREMY BENTHAM AND INTERVENTIONIST LIBERALISM
þ CLASSICAL LIBERALISM OF 18TH CENTURY STRESSED
INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM AS ULTIMATE GOAL OF ALL
POLICY:
þ IT WAS REACTING AGAINST POL CENTRALIZATION
&
ECON REG.
þ ANY RESTRICTION ON INDIV FREEDOM
HINDERED
ACHIEVEMENT OF MAX WELFARE.
þ SMITH -->MIN ROLE OF GOVN TO POLICE,
JUSTICE, ARMS.
þ BENTHAM DISAGREED. SAID SMITH APPROACH BASED ON
ERRONEOUS IDEA THAT ONLY INDIVIDUAL ACTION COULD
CREATE WELFARE.
þ JB: ACTIONS OF ONE PERSON IN HIS OWN INTEREST
MIGHT REDUCE WELFARE OF OTHERS.
þ INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS WITHIN WHICH PEOPLE
ACT COULD DETERMINE OUTCOME OF ACTIONS.
þ JB BELIEVED IN GOVN INTERVENTION TO IMPROVE
PEOPLE'S LIVES.
þ CLASSICAL LIBERALISM THAT HAD STRESSED
INDIVIDUALISM GAVE WAY TO AN INTERVENTIONIST
LIBERALISM (THE PHILOSOPHICAL RADICALS) THAT
STRESSED SOCIAL WELFARE. BENTHAM WAS ITS APOSTLE.
þ OTHER INTERVENTIONIST LIBERALS:
JAMES MILL DAVID RICARDO JOHN STUART MILL