第79章 BENTHAM'S DOCTRINE(1)

I.FIRST PRINCIPLES

Bentham's position is in one respect unique.There have been many greater thinkers；but there has been hardly any one whose abstract theory has become in the same degree the platform of an active political party.To accept the philosophy was to be also pledged to practical applications of Utilitarianism.

What，then，was the revelation made to the Benthamites，and to what did it owe its influence？The central doctrine is expressed in Bentham's famous formula：the test of right and wrong is the 'greatest happiness of the greatest number.'There was nothing new in this assertion.It only expresses the fact that Bentham accepted one of the two alternatives which have commended themselves to conflicting schools ever since ethical speculation was erected into a separate department of thought.Moreover，the side which Bentham took was，we may say，the winning side.The ordinary morality of the time was Utilitarian in substance.Hutcheson had invented the sacred phrase：and Hume had based his moral system upon 'utility.'(1)Bentham had learned much from Helvétius the French freethinker，and had been anticipated by Paley the English divine.

The writings in which Bentham deals explicitly with the general principles of Ethics would hardly entitle him to a higher position than that of a disciple of Hume without Hume's subtlety；or of Paley without Paley's singular gift of exposition.Why，then，did Bentham's message come upon his disciples with the force and freshness of a new revelation？Our answer must be in general terms that Bentham founded not a doctrine but a method：and that the doctrine which came to him simply as a general principle was in his hands a potent instrument applied with most fruitful results to questions of immediate practical interest.

Beyond the general principle of utility，therefore，we have to consider the organon，constructed by him to give effect to a general principle too vague to be applied in detail.The fullest account of this is contained in the Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation.This work unfortunately is a fragment，but it gives his doctrine vigorously and decisively，without losing itself in the minute details which become wearisome in his later writings.

Bentham intended it as an introduction to a penal code；and his investigation sent him back to more general problems.He found it necessary to settle the relations of the penal code to the whole body of law；and to settle these he had to consider the principles which underlie legislation in general.

He had thus，he says，to 'create a new science，'and then to elaborate one department of the science.The 'introduction'would contain prolegomena not only for the penal code but for the other departments of inquiry which he intended to exhaust.(2)He had to lay down primary truths which should be to this science what the axioms are to mathematical sciences.(3)These truths therefore belong to the sphere of conduct in general，and include his ethical theory.

'Nature has placed mankind'(that is his opening phrase)'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.'there is the unassailable basis.It had been laid down as unequivocally by Locke，(4)and had been embodied in the brilliant couplets of Pope's Essay on Man.(5)At the head of the curious table of universal knowledge，given in the Chrestomathia，we have Eudaemonics as an all-comprehensive name of which every art is a branch.(6)Eudaemonics，as an art，corresponds to the science 'ontology.'

It covers the whole sphere of human thought.It means knowledge in general as related to conduct.Its first principle，again，requires no more proof than the primary axioms of arithmetic or geometry.Once understood，it is by the same act of the mind seen to be true.Some people，indeed，do not see it.Bentham rather ignores than answers some of their arguments.But his mode of treating opponents indicates his own position.'Happiness，'it is often said，is too vague a word to be the keystone of an ethical system；it varies from man to man：or it is 'subjective，'and therefore gives no absolute or independent ground for morality.A morality of 'eudaemonism'must be an 'empirical'morality，and we can never extort from it that 'categorical imperative，'without which we have instead of a true morality a simple system of 'expediency.'From Bentham's point of view the criticism must be retorted.