Jeremy Bentham A Man Of Many Hats - 1479 Words

Jeremy Bentham was a man of many hats. He was a British philosopher, a jurist, and a social reformer. He fought for women’s rights, animal rights, the end of slavery, the separation between church and state, and many other things. Many of these beliefs were very radical for his time and very forward thinking. Bentham was the founder of utilitarianism, the belief that human beings by nature strive for pleasure and the avoidance of pain and evaluating a human being based on their consequences and their net pleasure and pain. Immanual Kant was a Prussian philosopher. He has a hard childhood with both of his parents dying before he left university. Kant was a religious man, but viewed his Protestant religion through a philosopher’s eye. Kant†¦show more content†¦The first six factors are relevant in both community settings and as an individual. The first factor that needs to be taken into account is which action gives us the most intense pleasure. The second factor is how long are the pleasures and the pains going to last. The third factor is how certain is it that the pleasure and/or pain is going to occur. The fourth factor is how soon after the action will the pleasure and pain result. The fifth factor is how likely will the pleasure and/or pain give rise to more pleasure and/or pain later. The sixth factor is how likely will the pleasure that results give rise to future pains, and vice versa. The seventh and last factor that one must consider is how much pleasure and/or pain will your action cause for others. Bentham believed that the ethical work of an action is based on only the consequences and the net gain of pleasure and pain throughout their lifetime, called consequentialism. To Bentham, ones intentions play no role in judging an action, only the outcome of the action. As long as the action produce more pleasure than pain, it does not matter why you committed the action. Because of this, Bentham has to be okay with the idea of torture, even torturing an innocent, because there is a possibility that it would serve many, so the pleasure would outweigh the pain. Bentham argues that these beliefs must be correct because most people agree with it some of the time and that this is