Editing Utilitarianism (section)

===Jeremy Bentham===
{{Main|Jeremy Bentham}}
[[File:Jeremy Bentham by Henry William Pickersgill detail.jpg|thumb|right|[[Jeremy Bentham]]]]
Bentham's book ''[[An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation]]'' was printed in 1780 but not published until 1789. It is possible that Bentham decided to publish after he saw the success of Paley's ''Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy''.<ref name="Rosen, Frederick 2003, p. 132">Rosen, Frederick. 2003. ''Classical Utilitarianism from Hume to Mill''. Routledge. p. 132.</ref> Though Bentham's book was not an immediate success,<ref>Schneewind, J. B. 1977. ''Sidgwick's Ethics and Victorian Moral Philosophy''. Oxford: [[Clarendon Press]]. p. 122.</ref> his ideas were spread further when [[Pierre Étienne Louis Dumont]] translated edited selections from a variety of Bentham's manuscripts into French. {{Lang|fr|Traité de législation civile et pénale}} was published in 1802 and then later retranslated back into English by Hildreth as ''The Theory of Legislation'', although by this time significant portions of Dumont's work had already been retranslated and incorporated into Sir [[John Bowring]]'s edition of Bentham's works, which was issued in parts between 1838 and 1843.

Perhaps aware that [[Francis Hutcheson (philosopher)|Francis Hutcheson]] eventually removed his algorithms for calculating the greatest happiness because they "appear'd useless, and were disagreeable to some readers,"<ref name="HutchesonIntroduction">[[Francis Hutcheson (philosopher)|Hutcheson, Francis.]] 1726. "Introduction." In ''An Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue''.</ref> Bentham contends that there is nothing novel or unwarranted about his method, for "in all this there is nothing but what the practice of mankind, wheresoever they have a clear view of their own interest, is perfectly conformable to."

Rosen (2003) warns that descriptions of utilitarianism can bear "little resemblance historically to utilitarians like Bentham and [[J. S. Mill]]" and can be more "a crude version of [[act utilitarianism]] conceived in the twentieth century as a [[straw man]] to be attacked and rejected."<ref>Rosen, Frederick. 2003. ''Classical Utilitarianism from Hume to Mill''. Routledge. p. 32.</ref> It is a mistake to think that Bentham is not concerned with rules. His seminal work is concerned with the principles of legislation and the hedonic calculus is introduced with the words "Pleasures then, and the avoidance of pains, are the ends that the legislator has in view." In Chapter VII, Bentham says: "The business of government is to promote the happiness of the society, by punishing and rewarding.... In proportion as an act tends to disturb that happiness, in proportion as the tendency of it is pernicious, will be the demand it creates for punishment."

==== Principle of utility ====
Bentham's work opens with a statement of the principle of utility:<ref>[[Jeremy Bentham|Bentham, Jeremy]]. 1780. "[http://www.koeblergerhard.de/Fontes/BenthamJeremyMoralsandLegislation1789.pdf#page=43 Of The Principle of Utility]." Pp. 1–6 in ''[[An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation]]''. London: T. Payne and Sons. (Also available as [https://www.utilitarianism.com/jeremy-bentham/#one eText], [[wikisource:An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation/Chapter I|Wikisource]]). p. 1.</ref>

{{blockquote|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.{{nbsp}}... By the principle of utility is meant that principle which approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever according to the tendency it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness of the party whose interest is in question: or, what is the same thing in other words to promote or to oppose that happiness. I say of every action whatsoever, and therefore not only of every action of a private individual, but of every measure of government.|author=|title=|source=}}

==== Hedonic calculus ====
In Chapter IV, Bentham proposes a method of calculating the value of pleasures and pains, which has come to be known as the [[Hedonic Calculus|hedonic calculus]]. Bentham says that the value of a pleasure or pain, considered by itself, can be measured according to its intensity, duration, certainty/uncertainty and propinquity/remoteness. In addition, it is necessary to consider "the tendency of any act by which it is produced" and, therefore, to take account of the act's fecundity, or the chance it has of being followed by sensations of the same kind and its purity, or the chance it has of not being followed by sensations of the opposite kind. Finally, it is necessary to consider the extent, or the number of people affected by the action.

==== Evils of the first and second order ====
The question then arises as to when, if at all, it might be legitimate to [[Breaking the law (legal)|break the law]]. This is considered in ''The Theory of Legislation'', where Bentham distinguishes between evils of the first and second order. The former are more immediate consequences; the latter are consequences spread through the community causing "alarm" and "danger".

<blockquote>It is true there are cases in which, if we confine ourselves to the effects of the first order, the good will have an incontestable preponderance over the evil. Were the offence considered only under this point of view, it would not be easy to assign any good reasons to justify the rigour of the laws. Every thing depends upon the evil of the second order; it is this which gives to such actions the character of crime, and which makes punishment necessary. Let us take, for example, the physical desire of satisfying hunger. Let a beggar, pressed by hunger, steal from a rich man's house a loaf, which perhaps saves him from starving, can it be possible to compare the good which the thief acquires for himself, with the evil which the rich man suffers?... It is not on account of the evil of the first order that it is necessary to erect these actions into offences, but on account of the evil of the second order.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bentham |first1=Jeremy |last2=Dumont |first2=Etienne |last3=Hildreth | first3=R |title=Theory of Legislation: Translated from the French of Etienne Dumont |publisher=Adamant Media Corporation |date=November 2005 |page=58 |isbn=978-1-4021-7034-8}}</ref></blockquote>