Bentham's principle of utility (applied in politics)
That action is best, which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers.Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725). Treatise II. Concerning Moral Good and Evil, sec. 3, 8 In the effort to explain how Bentham envisaged that politics ought to be guided by the principle of utility, one has first to consider some of his social, moral and legal theoretical propositions, which seem to be interwoven with the, political in nature, answer. To begin with, humans, selfish creatures as they are, seek their own-individual happiness. This is the foundation of the principle of utility, which can also justify the means by which a community can achieve welfare. The greatest happiness for the greatest number is also morally obligatory. Nonetheless, a community cannot rest itself in the moral willpower of the people. Law has to be enforced through government, which is the focal institution that should rather guide society to achieve its ends; through the principle of utility, of course. However the law has to be precise, clarified, and codified. Nevertheless, given that power tends to corrupt, then, democracy seems as the only system of governance compatible with t
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Hume Bentham, CH IV, Minister Parliament, CH II, COMMUNITY Bentham¡¦s, Moral Evil, UTILITY Hume, DEMOCRACY Bentham, Duncan Gray, CH XIV, sweet 2001, 1789 ch, bentham 1789, bentham 1789 ch, plamentatz 1966, johnson 1992, principle utility, hampsher-monk 1992, 2001 p2, hart 1982, sweet 2001 p2, sweet 2001 p3, harrisson 1948, sweet 2001 p4, cited sweet 2001,
Approximate Word count = 2711
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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