PHILOSOPHER

Jeremy Bentham

1748 - 1832

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Jeremy Bentham (; 4 February 1747/8 O.S. [15 February 1748 N.S.] – 6 June 1832) was an English philosopher, jurist, and social reformer regarded as the founder of modern utilitarianism. Bentham defined as the "fundamental axiom" of his philosophy the principle that "it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong." He became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law, and a political radical whose ideas influenced the development of welfarism. He advocated individual and economic freedoms, the separation of church and state, freedom of expression, equal rights for women, the right to divorce, and (in an unpublished essay) the decriminalizing of homosexual acts. He called for the abolition of slavery, capital punishment, and physical punishment, including that of children. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Jeremy Bentham is the 108th most popular philosopher (down from 97th in 2019), the 173rd most popular biography from United Kingdom (down from 107th in 2019) and the 8th most popular British Philosopher.

Jeremy Bentham is most famous for his theory of utilitarianism, which is the idea that the moral worth of an action is based on its usefulness in increasing pleasure and decreasing pain.

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Among PHILOSOPHERS

Among philosophers, Jeremy Bentham ranks 108 out of 1,267. Before him are Friedrich Fröbel, Roger Bacon, Boethius, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, George Gurdjieff, and Apollodorus of Athens. After him are Antisthenes, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Emil Cioran, Bodhidharma, John Scotus Eriugena, and Gilles Deleuze.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1748, Jeremy Bentham ranks 2. Before him is Jacques-Louis David. After him are Charles XIII of Sweden, Charles IV of Spain, Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot, Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, Olympe de Gouges, Claude Louis Berthollet, Adam Weishaupt, Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, William V, Prince of Orange, and Johann Friedrich Gmelin. Among people deceased in 1832, Jeremy Bentham ranks 6. Before him are Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Napoleon II, Évariste Galois, Jean-François Champollion, and Walter Scott. After him are Georges Cuvier, Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, Rasmus Rask, Muzio Clementi, Jean-Baptiste Say, and Maria Theresa of Austria-Este, Queen of Sardinia.

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In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, Jeremy Bentham ranks 173 out of 8,785. Before him are Jane Seymour (1508), Roger Bacon (1220), Patrick Blackett (1897), Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830), Robert Edwards (1925), and Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (1758). After him are Mark Knopfler (1949), Geoffrey Chaucer (1343), Philip Noel-Baker (1889), Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia (1596), Aldous Huxley (1894), and Robert Brown (1773).

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Among PHILOSOPHERS In United Kingdom

Among philosophers born in United Kingdom, Jeremy Bentham ranks 8. Before him are John Locke (1632), Thomas Hobbes (1588), David Hume (1711), Thomas More (1478), Herbert Spencer (1820), and Roger Bacon (1220). After him are William of Ockham (1285), Joseph Priestley (1733), John Wycliffe (1324), Duns Scotus (1265), John Venn (1834), and Thomas Reid (1710).

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