Classical Utilitarianism from Hume to Mill

Frederick Rosen is Professor of the History of Political Thought at University College London. He has served as General Editor of The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham, Director of the Jeremy Bentham Project, and Director of the Centre for Politics, Law and Society at UCL. Among his books are Jeremy Bentham and Representative Democracy(1983) and Bentham, Byron and Greece: Constitutionalism, Nationalism, and Early Liberal Political Thought (1992). He has co-edited several books, was the founding editor of Utilitas, and has contributed numerous articles to various learned journals.

• 1. IntroductionPart I2. Utility and Justice: Epicurus and the Epicurean Tradition3. Reading Hume Backwards: Utility as the Foundation of Morals4. The Idea of Utility in Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments5. Helvetius, the Scottish Enlightenment, and Bentham's Idea of Utility6. The Idea of Utility in Smith's Wealth of Nations7. Bentham and Smith on Liberty8. William Paley as a Utilitarian9. Liberty, Utility, and the Reform of the Criminal Law10. J.S. Mill's Hedonism11. J.S. Mill on Justice and LibertyPart II12. Punishment of the Innocent13. Individual Sacrifice and the Greatest Happiness14. The Tyranny of the Majority15. Negative Liberty

'Rosen offers a provocative thesis, particularly concerning Hume and Smith, which critics will certainly have to answer.' – Political Studies Review'There is a lot of material in this book that anyone interested in utilitarianism would benefit from mulling over. It presents interesting perspectives on some traditional themes, and succeeds in clarifying ... a number of issues that I am sure will still be discussed in many years.' – Economics and Philosophy