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Jeremy Bentham, father of utilitarianism, still attends board meetings at University College London, despite the fact that he has been dead for more than 200 years. That aside, this book including his and John Stuart Mill's foundations for the philosophy that still informs every part of our lives, and is an excellent grounding in the subject.
If you have read "Hard Times" by Dickens, you may think utilitarianism a cold and unfeeling philosophy, and was indeed, in Victorian times a justification for much suffering and empire building. However, Bentham and Mill's essays show the other side of the argument, and the humanity and compassion that can be present in their philosophy, if it is not misued. Bentham will be turning in his chair.
how well it promotes the welfare of those affected by it, aiming for 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number'. This book shows the creation and development...