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Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham Books

Philosopher

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“What other agents then are there, which, at the same time that they are under the influence of man's direction, are susceptible of happiness? They are of two sorts: (1) Other human beings who are styled persons. (2) Other animals, which, on account of their interests having been neglected by the insensibility of the ancient jurists, stand degraded into the class of things... But is there any reason why we should be suffered to torment them? Not any that I can see. Are there any why we should not be suffered to torment them? Yes, several. The day has been, I grieve to say in many places it is not yet past, in which the greater part of the species, under the denomination of slaves, have been treated by the law exactly upon the same footing as, in England for example, the inferior races of animals are still. The day may come, when the rest of the animal creation may acquire those rights which never could have been withholden from them but by the hand of tyranny. The French have already discovered that the blackness of the skin is no reason why a human being should be abandoned without redress to the caprice of a tormentor. It may come one day to be recognized, that the number of the legs, the villosity of the skin, or the termination of the os sacrum, are reasons equally insufficient for abandoning a sensitive being to the same fate. What else is it that should trace the insuperable line? Is it the faculty of reason, or, perhaps, the faculty of discourse? But a full-grown horse or dog is beyond comparison a more rational, as well as a more conversable animal, than an infant of a day, or a week, or even a month, old. But suppose the case were otherwise, what would it avail? the question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer? Why should the law refuse its protection to any sensitive being? The time will come when humanity will extend its mantle over everything which breathes.”

PhilosophyMoralityEthicsEqualityAnimal Rights
Book:The Principles of Morals and Legislation
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“Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. On the one hand the standard of right and wrong, on the other the chain of causes and effects, are fastened to their throne. They govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think: every effort we can make to throw off our subjection, will serve but to demonstrate and confirm it. In words a man may pretend to abjure their empire: but in reality he will remain subject to it all the while. The principle of utility recognizes this subjection, and assumes it for the foundation of that system, the object of which is to rear the fabric of felicity by the hands of reason and of law. Systems which attempt to question it, deal in sounds instead of sense, in caprice instead of reason, in darkness instead of light.”

ReasonPhilosophyPainHappinessNaturePleasureMoralityEthicsUtilityMoral PhilosophyUtilitarianismPhilosophy Of Ethics
Book:The Principles of Morals and Legislation
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“Judges of elegance and taste consider themselves as benefactors to the human race, whilst they are really only the interrupters of their pleasure ... There is no taste which deserves the epithet good, unless it be the taste for such employments which, to the pleasure actually produced by them, conjoin some contingent or future utility: there is no taste which deserves to be characterized as bad, unless it be a taste for some occupation which has mischievous tendency.”

HumansPleasureRaceJudgingTasteDeserveTendenciesEmploymentHuman RaceOccupationEleganceUtilityMischievousBenefactorsEpithet
Book:The Works of Jeremy Bentham, Now First Collected: Under the Superintendence of His Executor, John Bowring ...
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“Create all the happiness you are able to create: remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you to add something to the pleasure of others, or to diminish something of their pains. And for every grain of enjoyment you sow in the bosom of another, you shall find a harvest in your own bosom; while every sorrow which you pluck out from the thoughts and feelings of a fellow creature shall be replaced by beautiful peace and joy in the sanctuary of your soul.”

SoulFeelingsAblePainBeautifulJoyPleasureSorrowCreaturesFellowsAddMiseryYour SoulEnjoymentRemoveGrainReplacedHarvestDiminishBosomsSanctuaryThoughts And FeelingsPluckPeace And Joy
Author:Jeremy Bentham
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“The offence is what is improperly called the death of an infant, who has ceased to be, before knowing what existence is, a result of a nature not to give the slightest inquietude to the most timid imagination; and which can cause no regrets but to the very person who, through a sentiment of shame and pity, has refused to prolong a life begun under the auspices of misery.”

GivingPersonsCausesImaginationResultsExistenceKnowingRegretShameMiseryPitySentimentsInfantNo RegretsOffence
Book:Theory of Legislation
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“By utility is meant that property is any object, whereby it tends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, good, or happiness(all this in the present case come to the same thing) or (what comes again to the same thing) to prevent the happening of mischief, pain, evil or unhappiness to the party who whose is considered: if that party be the community in general, then the happiness of the community; if a particular individual; then the happiness of that individual”

IfsPainEvilIndividualCommunityPleasurePartyCasesObjectsProduceParticularBenefitsHappeningsAdvantagePropertyUnhappinessUtilityMischief
Book:The Principles of Morals and Legislation
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“The principle of asceticism never was, nor ever can be, consistently pursued by any living creature. Let but one tenth part of the inhabitants of the earth pursue it consistently, and in a day's time they will have turned it into a Hell.”

EarthReligionPrinciplesHellCreaturesPursueConsistentlyPursuedLiving CreaturesAsceticism
Book:The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham: An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation
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“Nature has placed mankind under the government of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure... they govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think: every effort we can make to throw off our subjection, will serve but to demonstrate and confirm it.”

ThinkingTwoGovernmentPainPleasureEffortMankindMastersSovereignUtilityPain And PleasureSubjectionUtilitarianUtilitarianismPain Pleasure
Book:The Works of Jeremy Bentham, Now First Collected: Under the Superintendence of His Executor, John Bowring ...
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“He who thinks and thinks for himself, will always have a claim to thanks; it is no matter whether it be right or wrong, so as it be explicit. If it is right, it will serve as a guide to direct; if wrong, as a beacon to warn.”

IfsThinkingMatterDirectClaimsGuidesThanksExplicitBeacons
Book:Benthamiana: Or Select Extracts from the Works of Jeremy Bentham. With an Outline of His Opinions on the Principal Subjects Discussed in His Works
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