Bentham's An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation by Steven Sverdlik;

Author:Steven Sverdlik;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press USA
Published: 2022-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

That is, it’s part of the meaning of the word “lust” that it’s bad.

This fact about the nature of certain kinds of words common in ethics and aesthetics was noted by Hume.10 Moral philosophers continue to be interested in these words. They now discuss the related idea of “thick” ethical concepts.11 Bentham doesn’t merely note this phenomenon in the language we use about motives: he devises a method of describing them that enables him to avoid prejudging the value of different motives. What he does is find or devise a “neutral” term that expresses no approval or disapproval of the motive. So, instead of speaking of “lust,” for example, he speaks of “sexual desire”; instead of “avarice,” “pecuniary interest” (par. 13n3).

The general pattern of analysis that Bentham then presents can be understood as follows. Each of the twelve motives has a certain end. Various actions are described that are different ways of producing the end. Some of these actions have good consequences, some bad consequences, some indifferent or overall neutral consequences.

It’s noteworthy that in the examples Bentham gives of acts from various motives, he generally doesn’t say that the agent’s end is her own pleasure, or the pleasure or pain of another person. In one example of the motive of self-preservation he does say that you steal a loaf of bread “to put an end of the pain of hunger” (par. 27). But most of the examples where an end is stated are described differently. Agents are said to do various things “for money” (par. 19), for example, or “to gain a place in administration” (that is, a position in government) (par. 23). It seems that Bentham is speaking loosely in his description of the ends people have in acting, and that his “official” position about them, as it were, is presented in sections i and ii.

As an example of Bentham’s pattern of analysis, consider paragraph 28. He describes three types of act that the “love of ease,” or dislike of exertion, can lead to: a parent’s failing to feed his child; escaping from slavery; making tending to a machine less difficult. He notes that there’s an apparent paradox in a love of ease leading a person to do work, as in the last two examples. But he says that this is completely rational when some work now can avoid more work later (par. 28n).

Bentham’s discussion of the love of reputation is interesting (par. 22). As I’ve mentioned, he connects this motive to the moral sanction. We’re surprised to read his first example of its operation: challenging a person who’s insulted you to a duel. Dueling still took place in England in 1780. Among those who accepted the “code of honor” governing it, failing to duel in this case bespoke cowardice and was shameful.

In paragraph 29 Bentham draws some conclusions from his analysis of the twelve motives. We can take these two to summarize section iii.

1. If any sort of motive is “good or bad on the score of its effects, this is the case only on individual occasions, and with individual motives.

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