The Happiness Industry
“The passage was this: The good and happiness of the members, that is, the majority of the members, of any state, is the great standard by which everything relating to that state must finally be determined.
Bentham was eighteen years old and the year was 1766. Over the next sixty years, he took Priestley’s insight and converted it into an extensive and hugely influential doctrine of government: utilitarianism. This is the theory stating that the right action is whichever one produces the maximum... happiness for the population overall.
There is something telling about the fact that Bentham’s ‘eureka’ moment was not a matter of great intellectual originality. Nor did he ever claim to be much of a philosophical pioneer. In addition to Priestley’s influence, Bentham was content to admit that much of his account of human nature and motivation was lifted from the Scottish philosopher David Hume.1 He had little interest in producing new theories or weighty philosophical tomes, and never took much enjoyment in writing.MoreLess
Bentham was eighteen years old and the year was 1766. Over the next sixty years, he took Priestley’s insight and converted it into an extensive and hugely influential doctrine of government: utilitarianism. This is the theory stating that the right action is whichever one produces the maximum... happiness for the population overall.
There is something telling about the fact that Bentham’s ‘eureka’ moment was not a matter of great intellectual originality. Nor did he ever claim to be much of a philosophical pioneer. In addition to Priestley’s influence, Bentham was content to admit that much of his account of human nature and motivation was lifted from the Scottish philosopher David Hume.1 He had little interest in producing new theories or weighty philosophical tomes, and never took much enjoyment in writing.MoreLess
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