781 research outputs found
A Visit (in 1831) To Jeremy Bentham
No full textUpon the death of his father Jeremiah in 1792, Jeremy Bentham inherited the family home in Queen’s Square Place, Westminster. Queen’s Square Place consisted of two houses, and it was in the larger of these two residences that Bentham lived for the next forty years. Bentham referred to his abode as the Hermitage and himself as the Hermit. Despite this apparent reclusiveness, many notable statesmen, politicians, lawyers, and intellectuals visited him, although some equally prominent figures (such as Madame de Staël) were refused an audience.
This text is the most detailed account that has hitherto appeared of how Jeremy Bentham lived at Queen's Square Place, his home in Westminster, during his final years. The author, George Wheatley, visited Bentham in March 1831, and stayed with him for approximately three weeks. Six of Wheatley's letters sent to his sister during his stay, as well as six extracts from his journal, and a short commentary on John Hill Burton's 'Benthamiana', were collated and printed privately for the author by P.H. Youngman, Maldon, in about 1853. The resulting volume, 64 pages long and entitled 'A Visit (in 1830) to Jeremy Bentham' has been transcribed and lightly annotated, and is published online here for the first time. The only known copy of the text is in the possession of the Bentham Project.
The text also features an editorial introduction by Dr Kris Grint
Bentham and metaethics
No full text?Project Bentham? which has been started in 1968 is still in progress. This
effort of editing Bentham?s voluminous work is naturally accompanied with
?new readings? of Bentham?s old text. Some of those editorial readings shade
some light on some of Bentham?s almost forgotten endeavors in the areas of
philosophy of language and logic. In this paper author analyze some Bentham?s
ideas significant for the contemporary metaethics: 1) facts/values
distinction; 2) analytical approach to the language in general; and 3) the
theory of fictitious entities. The author concludes that some of Bentham?s
analysis and proposals are similar to Charles Stevenson?s metaethical
?emotivism?.</jats:p
Offences Against One\u27s Self: Paederasty Part 1
No full textThis is the first publication of Jeremy Bentham\u27s essay on Paederasty, written about 1785, The essay, which runs to over 60 manuscript pages, is the first known argument for homosexual law reform in England. Bentham advocates the decriminalization of sodomy, which in his day was punished by hanging. He argues that homosexual acts do not weaken men, or threaten population or marriage, and documents their prevalence in ancient Greece and Rome. Bentham opposes punishment on utilitarian grounds and attacks ascetic sexual morality. In the preceding article the editor\u27s introduction discussed the essay in the light of 18th-century legal opinion and quoted Bentham\u27s manuscript notes that reveal his anxieties about expressing his views. Edited from the author\u27s manuscript by Louis Crompton
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