General Introduction

• Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was a late-eighteenth century English philosopher, jurist, economist, and reformer.

• Known as the founder of Utilitarianism in political thought.

• Son of a wealthy London lawyer; educated at Westminster School and Oxford University.

• Chose scholarly pursuits in philosophy and jurisprudence, supported financially by family.

• Writings cover diverse subjects: education, logic, language, rhetoric, religion, public economy, law, and judicial issues.

• Major political philosophy works: A Fragment on Government (1776) and An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789).

• Criticized John Locke’s notion of natural rights as “simple nonsense.”

• Rejected concepts of state of nature, social contract, and sovereignty as illogical and unnecessary for explaining state origin or political obligation.

• Argued utility as the obvious reason behind the origin of the state and the logical basis of political obligation.

• His ideas emerged during the Industrial Revolution, which transformed England’s social, economic, and political landscape.

• A new industrial-merchant middle class arose without political representation, while power remained with the landed aristocracy controlling the House of Lords and Commons.

• Earlier conservative writings supported traditional social structure based on landed property, ascribed status, and hereditary monarchy.

• Bentham’s liberal tradition acknowledged changing property ownership and social mobility.

• Industrial entrepreneurs demanded a free hand in production and commerce and a government with sound laws and contract enforcement.

• Bentham’s utilitarian philosophy provided a strong defense for this new political and economic order.

• His persuasive style gained followers among politicians, civil servants, jurists, economists, and moral philosophers.

• Contributions to liberalism include:
  (a) Critique of Locke’s natural rights theory and offering an alternative foundation for liberalism.
  (b) A new scheme for administrative and judicial organization emphasizing responsible exercise of power.
  (c) Vision of a political structure aimed at legislation goals: security, subsistence, abundance, and equality, reflecting the needs of the modern democratic state.

Liberalism

Liberalism refers to a principle of politics which regards ‘liberty’ or ‘freedom’ of individual as the first and foremost goal of public policy. Liberty, in this sense, implies “liberation’ from restraints, particularly from the restraints imposed by a tradition-bound society like a feudal state, or by an authoritarian regime. This principle was evolved in the West in late-seventeenth century in order to liquidate feudal privileges of the land-owning class, and to create favourable conditions for the new entrepreneural class to enable them to contribute to social progress.

Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution refers to the series of changes which started in the British economy in the mid-eighteenth century and transformed an agrarian society into an industrial society. These changes reached their zenith during the period 1760-1840. They began with the mechanization of cloth industry, and spread to other important areas like mining, transport and industrial organization. In this process many industrial cities emerged; roads, canals, bridges, railways, rail coaches and ships were built up. In the course of time the impact of Industrial Revolution spread to all parts of Europe and some other parts of the world.