Utility and Democracy
The Political Thought of Jeremy Bentham
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9799527 |
|---|---|
| Authors | William Thomas (0000-0001-6969-3173, United Church of Christ, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 123 |
| Issue | 500 |
| Pages | 236-238 |
| Publication date | 2008-02-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The English Historical Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0013-8266 • E-ISSN: 1477-4534 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/ehr/cem437 |
| OpenAlex | W1966906443 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
It is well known that students of political theory divide into textualists and contextualists, into those who concentrate on the exposition and analysis of a classic text, such as Leviathan and Du Contrat Social, and do not look beyond it, and those who think that no text, however abstract, can properly be understood without a thorough understanding of the circumstances in which it was composed and the problems that its author ought consequently to address. The late John Plamenatz was the classic textualist, propounding political thought as a succession of major works like mountain peaks; Professor Quentin Skinner by contrast is the most thoroughgoing contextualist, concentrating so much on the foothills and their vegetation that the grandeur of the individual peaks comes to seem something of a mirage. On the face of it, Bentham's work would seem to call for a contextualist treatment. Though his early works were spare and
Art · Democracy · Epistemology · Exposition (narrative · Jeremy bentham · Literature · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Law · Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence
| Citations per year | 0.27 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2015 - 2025 (11) |
| Highly cited | No |