An Exploration of Jeremy Bentham's Utilitarian View of Politics

Abstract

In response to the injustice and confusion in the legal and political fields of 18th-century England, Jeremy Bentham systematically proposed a utilitarian system and its penalties based on David Hume’s moral emotionalism and Beccaria's principles of legislation. Specifically, with a view of Minarchism, he proposed a comprehensive and radical plan for parliamentary reform in terms of the right to vote, the establishment of institutions, parliamentary procedures and the qualifications of parliamentarians in order to avoid corrupt practices, while at the same time emphasizing crime prevention, calling for leniency in penalties, the establishment of a sound and clear legal system and the reduction of the cost of defence to provide for his ideal political environment. Not only did he pioneer utilitarianism in theory, but he also contributed to the reform of the 1832 Parliamentary Reform and the improvement of the legal code.