Contending Interpretations of Bentham's Utilitarianism

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6236485
AutoresJames E Crimmins (0000-0002-4173-4508, Huron (France), autor correspondente)
Ano1996
Volume29
Fascículo4
Páginas751-777
Data de publicação1996-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoCanadian Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0008-4239 • E-ISSN: 1744-9324
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0008423900014463
OpenAlexW2086391811
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas8
Referências citadas45

This article illustrates the contours of the continuing debate over Bentham's utilitarianism through an analysis of the secondary literature. It assesses the persuasiveness of the principal contemporary “authoritarian” (despotic, totalitarian, collectivism behaviouralist, constructivist, panopticist and paternalist) and “individualist” (facilitative and liberal) interpretations of Bentham's thought, indicating where they are consistent with his writings and where they are not. Distinctions and conflicts between contending perspectives are found to be rooted in a reliance on different elements of Bentham's vast corpus and emphasis on different components of his utilitarian theory. An examination of the contending perspectives underscores the tensions in Bentham's thought, including the most characteristic tension between, on the one hand, the axiomatic commitment to the individual and, on the other hand, the greatest happiness principle

Authoritarianism · Collectivism · Communitarianism · Democracy · Economics · Epistemology · Happiness · Individualism · Liberalism · Paternalism · Political science · Positive economics · Principal (computer security · Sociology · Subjectivism · Utilitarianism · Economic Theory and Institutions · Historical Philosophy and Science · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science