Given this historical context, it is understandable that Bentham used reason and science to explain human behaviour. His ethical system was an attempt to quantify happiness and the good so they would meet the conditions of the scientific method. Ethics had to be empirical, quantifiable, verifiable, and reproducible across time and space. Just as science was beginning to understand the workings of cause and effect in the body, so ethics would explain the causal relationships of the mind. Bentham rejected religious authority and wrote a rebuttal to the Declaration of Independence in which he railed against natural rights as “rhetorical nonsense, nonsense upon stilts." Instead, the fundamental unit of human action for him was utility-solid, certain, and factual.
What is utility? Bentham's fundamental axiom, which underlies utilitarianism, was that all social morals and government legislation should aim for producing the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Utilitarianism, therefore, emphasizes the consequences or ultimate purpose of an act rather than the character of the actor, the actor's motivation, or the particular circumstances surrounding the act. It has these characteristics: (1) universality, because it applies to all acts of human behaviour, even those that appear to be done from altruistic motives; (2) objectivity, meaning it operates beyond individual thought, desire, and perspective; (3) rationality, because it is not based in metaphysics or theology; and (4) quantifiability in its reliance on utility. (353 words)
(Extracted from Michael Quinn, “Jeremy Bentham, “The Psychology of Economic Man,' and Behavioural Economics,” Oeconomia 6, no. 1 (2016): 3–32)
Bentham's Ethics & Scientific Method
Jeremy Bentham, living during a time of significant global changes like the American and French Revolutions and the Industrial Revolution, aimed to ground ethics in reason and science. He wanted to make ethics as objective and measurable as scientific inquiry. To do this, Bentham attempted to quantify concepts like happiness and goodness, ensuring they could be evaluated using the scientific method.
Bentham's Scientific Ethics Conditions
The passage states that for ethics to align with the scientific method, it needed to be:
- Empirical: Based on observation and direct experience.
- Quantifiable: Capable of being measured or calculated, specifically regarding pleasure and pain, or happiness.
- Verifiable: Able to be confirmed or checked for accuracy.
- Reproducible: Consistent and achievable across different times and places.
Bentham's core principle, the foundation of utilitarianism, was that actions should aim for "the greatest happiness for the greatest number." This means the focus is on the outcomes of actions, not the intentions or the person performing them.
Ethical Exception in Bentham's System
The question asks to identify which characteristic was NOT required for Bentham's ethical system when applying the scientific method. The text clearly indicates Bentham's stance:
- He rejected religious authority and any basis in metaphysics or theology, stating his system was rational precisely because it was *not* based on these.
- He famously dismissed concepts like "natural rights" as mere "rhetorical nonsense."
This shows that while ethics needed to be empirical, quantifiable, and verifiable, a theological foundation was explicitly rejected by Bentham. His aim was to create a secular, scientific system for understanding morality and guiding legislation, relying on observable utility rather than religious doctrine.
Therefore, the characteristic that did not fit the conditions required by the scientific method for Bentham's ethical system was theological.
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Important Questions from Non Grammar
- From the passage it is evident that:
- Which of the statements is true?
- Which of the following can be inferred as the most significant characteristic of prehistoric humans, as per the passage?
- Which of the following best explains why humans did not initially stand out among other organisms?
- The passage explains the concept of species classification by
