Jeremy Bentham was a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law and one of the founders of

utilitarianism, he was born in Houndsditch, London on February 15, 1748

. His most important theoretical work is the Introduction to the Principles of Morals and
Legislation (1789), in which much of his moral theory—which he said reflected "the greatest
happiness principle"— is described and developed.

Moral theories define that how we should make our decisions, how we should value our choices,
what institution to choose, what to study, and similar questions like these, there was still a need
for action principles for a society to have their conduct to guide, so utilitarianism started with the
Hedonist basis and upon that analogy it can be said that pleasure is good and pain is bad.
Breaking the above pleasure and pain concept into more simple terms, if there is more pleasure
overall than pain, than its good and if there is more pain overall than pleasure than its bad.
Utility was defined by Bentham as “the principle which approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever
according to the tendency which it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness of the party
whose interest is in question.” The principle of utility is designed to promote the happiness of the
individual or the community.

. According to him the business of the government was to promote happiness among the masses, by
furthering the enjoyment of pleasure and providing security against the pain. For him it was the greatest
happiness of the greatest number of the people, which constituted the principle of utility. A happy society
constitutes a happy polity. Public good is the object of the legislator

Bentham was more concerned with legal and social reforms, so he was not just referring to just
the usefulness of things or actions, but to the extent to which these things or actions promote the
general happiness, so the Bentham’s moral philosophy reflects what he call at different times
“the greatest happiness principle” or “the principle of utility”, and he writes, “By the principle of
utility is meant that principle which approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever,
according to the tendency which it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness of the
party whose interest is in question: or, what is the same thing in other words, to promote or to
oppose that happiness.” And it emphasizes that this applies to every action whatsoever it may be.
The general derivation from it is that maximize the happiness to the greatest, and minimize the
suffering.
According to him the business of the government was to promote happiness among the masses, by
furthering the enjoyment of pleasure and providing security against the pain. For him it was the greatest
happiness of the greatest number of the people, which constituted the principle of utility.

According to his theory, mankind is always under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain
and pleasure. They point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do.
They govern us in all our actions and thoughts. In words a man may pretend to reject their
empire: but in reality, he will remain subject to it all the while.

1. DOCTRINE OF PLEASURES & PAINS AND THEIR TYPES

Bentham referred Pleasure and pain regarding them one general word, interesting perceptions.

Interesting perceptions are either simple or complex, the simple ones cannot be resolve more and
are simply bestowed and gives pleasure and pain accordingly. For example, pleasure of wealth,
skill power, relief, etc.
At the same time there are some simple pains too- enmity, awkwardness, etc.
Complex ones are those which are resolvable into composition of simple ones, like a composed
interesting perception may accordingly be composed wither, of pleasure alone, of pain alone, or
pleasure or pleasures and pain or pains together.

There are four distinguishing sources from which pleasure and pain are in use to flow, or in other
words they came to originate,: they may be termed the physical, the political, the moral, and the
religious: and inasmuch as the pleasures and pains belonging to each of them are capable of
giving a binding force to any law or rule of conduct, they may all of them are capable of giving a
binding force to any law or rule of conduct in the language of H.L.A. Hart, they may all of them
be termed sanctions in Austinian sense.2

Now we know what a pleasure is and what is pain, in Bentham’s sense but the real question is
how to measure such abstract things, which are psychological in nature. So to measure such
things, some circumstances to be taken into consideration which are:

 Intensity

 Duration
  Certainty or uncertainty

 Propinquity or remoteness

2
Jeremy Bentham. Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation at 24 (1879), Available on HeinOnline,
accessed on oct 19, 2020 (08:40 PM IST).
The above circumstances which are to be considered in estimating a pleasure or a pain considered
each of them by itself. But when the value of any pleasure or pain is considered for the purpose of
estimating the tendency of any act by which it is produced, there are two other circumstances to
be taken in the account; these are,

Its fecundity, or the chance it has of being followed by sensations of the same kind, i.e. if it be a
pleasure: pains, if it be a pain.

Its purity, or the chance it has of not being followed by sensations of the opposite kind, i.e. same.

However from the above six conditions there also lies one other important circumstance i.e. its
extent, the number of persons to whom it extends; or in other words as discussed in the
introductory portion of this paper persons who are affected by it.

From the above circumstances a process have been drawn by Bentham which allows the
accumulation of the value of pleasure or pain to what extent, and its guidance towards which it
can be categorized whether the same affects number of people, its growth, and such. Thereafter
in keeping above drawn analogy that what its use a person or any community or any particular
field can derive from it it solely depend upon the intensity of the pleasure or the pain.

Much had been discussed about the pleasure and pain, now we come to particular kinds of pain
and pleasure: stated above they can be classified into two categories simple and complex.

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Several simple pleasures:

 The pleasures of sense.

 The pleasures of wealth.
 The pleasures of skill.
 The pleasures of amity.
 The pleasures of a good name.
 The pleasures of power.
 The pleasures of piety.
 The pleasures of benevolence.
 The pleasures of malevolence.
 The pleasures of memory.
 The pleasures of imagination.
 The pleasures of expectation.
 The pleasures dependent on association.
 The pleasures of relief.

Several simple pains:

 The pains of privation.

 The pains of the senses.
 The pains of awkwardness.
 The pains of enmity.
 The pains of an ill name.
 The pains of piety.
 The pains of benevolence.
 The pains of malevolence.
 The pains of the memory.
 The pains of the imagination.
 The pains of expectation.
 The pains dependent on association

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Utilitarianism has profoundly impacted the modern society and its laws. Utilitarianism was
radical in the sense that it is a theory that is aimed at defining one simple basis that can be
applied when making any ethical decision. Criticism has not diminished its importance. It is
important to understand utilitarianism as it forms the basic tenants of legal theory and function of
laws. It assists in developing policies by examining their consequences and ensuring it touches
the greatest number of people. The theory informs debates on social issues and is the foundation for the
modern animal rights campaign.

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