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Untitled Article
basis of morals , legislation , and government . This principle hd -designated the " greatest happiness principle , " and he termed it all * comprehensive , because it includes every interest of every individual ; every interest of every individual without exception , —of
ihe evil-doer no less than of the most eminently virtuous ; for the delinquent is a member of the community as well as any other individual , as well as the injured party himself , and there is the £ ame reason for consulting his interest as that of any other ; his well-being is proportionably the well-being of the community , and his hurt the hurt of the community .
' Now what the principle of gravitation is to the whole field of physical science , the '' greatest happiness principle " is to the whole field of moral science : and what Newton did , when he discovered that the countless phenomena of the physical world have the former for their cause and governance , that Bentham did , when he discovered that the countless phenomena of the moral world have the latter for their cause and governance . As Newton saw that
the apple falls from the tree to the ground , by the operation of the same power that moves the planets in their course , so Bentham saw that his own greatest happiness is the actual end of action in every sensitive creature . In the former principle the great philosopher of physical nature discovered the source and the solution of all the complicated phenomena that fixed his delighted attention on the earth and the heavens . In the latter principle , the
great philosopher of human nature discovered the sure and certain guide to the attainment of the ultimate object of all sound morality , all wise legislation , all good government , —the improvement of the human being , the security and augmentation of human enjoyment . - The principle of gravitation was known long before Newton lived , but the extent of the operation was not perceived ; the grand benefit which he achieved for the philosophy of physics
was , that he showed this principle to be , what it really was , allcomprehensive ; that he applied it not only to the exposition of the phenomena observable in all bodies in the immediate neighbourhood of the earth , but also to the exposition of phenomena observable in heavenly bodies ; that he assumed it as the great cause , not only of the motions and situations of the several component parts of bodies , but also as the great cause of the motions and situations of all bodies whatsoever , considered as wholes ,
or each in its totality . —In like manner the fact , that every sensitive being aims , in all his actions , at his own greatest happiness , and that the object of enlightened benevolence is to promote and secure the greatest happiness of the greatest number , was known and recognized before Bentham wrote ; but the grand benefit which he achieved for the philosophy of morals was , that he demonstrated this principle to be , what it reall y is , but what it had never been recognized as being , all-comprehensive ; the sole foundation , of morals , the sole test of every thing that is good and of everything
Untitled Article
452 . ' * ' Oft the Character find philosophy of * " " :
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1832, page 152, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1816/page/20/
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