Bentham: A Guide for the Perplexed

Description

Bentham: A Guide for the Perplexed presents a clear account of his life and thought, and highlights his relevance to contemporary debates in philosophy, politics, and law. Key concepts and themes, including Bentham's theory of logic and language, his utilitarianism, his legal theory, his panopticon prison, and his democratic politics-together with his views on religion, sex, and torture-are lucidly explored. The book also contains an illuminating discussion of the nature of the text from the perspective of an experienced textual editor.

Philip Schofield is Professor of the History of Legal and Political Thought at University College London. He is Director of the Bentham Project and General Editor of The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham. He has written many scholarly articles on Bentham and his monograph, Utility and Democracy: The Political Thought of Jeremy Bentham, published by OUP, won the Political Studies Association WJM Mackenzie Book Prize for 2006.

"Bentham is perplexing as well as fascinating, and this clear, insightful, and open-minded book will be a huge help to those seeking guidance." - Roger Crisp, University of Oxford, UK "Bentham has never had a better expositor than Philip Schofield, whose new book provides an engaging and authoritative guide to the philosopher who brought happiness to the center of the world's stage. Read and reform!" - Bart Schultz, University of Chicago, USA, author of Henry Sidgwick, Eye of the Universe