An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation
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Narrated by:
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Andrew Cullum
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By:
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Jeremy Bentham
About this listen
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), the English philosopher, writer on law and political radical, was an extraordinary individual. His preserved body can still be seen seated in a case in the South Cloisters of University College, London - what he called an auto-icon. His most important legacy, however, is the ‘principle of utility’ - the greatest happiness of the greatest number: an ultimate measure of right and wrong.
Underlain by an acute sense of ethics, this provided the basis for his strongly declared, wide-ranging views on many subjects: prohibition of cock-fighting, liberty of the press, universal suffrage, the removal of religious tests for office and even hunting. All were radical ideas for his time. He also proposed the decriminalisation of homosexuality, though even he did not dare to publish his essay on this subject during his lifetime.
But An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation was his major work. It was finished in 1780, though not published until nine years later when he added an extended footnote just before publication - demonstrating his characteristic reluctance to commit to a final form. (He also wrote a preface just before publication which is included here at the end of the recording, providing interesting background material). As Ross Harrison explains in his helpful opening comments to this recording, Bentham, a skilled jurist, wanted a perfect system of criminal law provided by a penal code, and An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation was to be the introduction. His overarching intent was 'to rear the fabric of felicity by the hands of reason and of law'.
Harrison clarifies: ‘Felicity, happiness, is the goal; reason and law are the means to be used’. In short, man should seek to maximise pleasure, but ethically. Bentham asks what a system of laws would look like if based on this principle of ‘utility’ - happiness. Bentham considers pleasure and pain in terms of behaviour, consequences and the law. As he says famously (in chapter 1), 'Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do as well as to determine what we shall do.'
He broadens his ethical purview further. Living at a time of widespread slavery, he argues that different races should not be subject to ‘the caprice of a tormentor’ and even questions whether animals should have rights. He goes on to propose a method for measuring pleasure over pain. Concerned to make a measured and clear argument at all times, Bentham did not set out to produce a work in a popular style. Nevertheless, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation is an important work, a milestone in English philosophy and one that has wielded a considerable influence, even to the present day.
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While millions face hunger, malnutrition, and starvation, the world's population is increasing by over 225,000 people per day, 80 million per year. In many countries, supplies of food and water are inadequate to support the population, so the world falls deeper and deeper into what economists call the "Malthusian trap". Here, Malthus examines the tendency of human numbers to outstrip their resources, and argues that poverty, disease, and starvation are necessary to keep societies from moving beyond their means of subsistence.
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Important historically but still relevant
- By Stef on 01-31-24
By: Thomas Malthus
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Plato's Republic
- By: Plato
- Narrated by: Ray Childs
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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The Republic poses questions that endure: What is justice? What form of community fosters the best possible life for human beings? What is the nature and destiny of the soul? What form of education provides the best leaders for a good republic? What are the various forms of poetry and the other arts, and which ones should be fostered and which ones should be discouraged? How does knowing differ from believing?
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BEWARE: shortened version
- By Dranu on 03-08-20
By: Plato
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Kant's Foundations of Ethics
- By: Immanuel Kant
- Narrated by: Ray Childs
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Kant published this work in 1795, during the aftermath of the American Revolution and the French Revolution. The high hopes of the European Enlightenment had been dampened by the Reign of Terror in which tens of thousands of people died, and the perpetual cycle of war and temporary armistice seemed to be inescapable. Kant's essay is best known as an early articulation of the idea of a league of nations that could bring an end to all hostilities. Today, the United Nations continues to pursue that dream, but lasting peace still seems to be wishful thinking.
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The Best on The Foundation of the Metaphysics of Morals
- By JCW on 07-28-18
By: Immanuel Kant
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Rights of Man
- By: Thomas Paine
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Rights of Man presents an impassioned defense of the Enlightenment principles of freedom and equality that Thomas Paine believed would soon sweep the world. He boldly claimed, "From a small spark, kindled in America, a flame has arisen, not to be extinguished. Without consuming...it winds its progress from nation to nation."
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By his voice alone he helped transform the West
- By Darwin8u on 12-23-12
By: Thomas Paine
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A Short History of Ethics
- By: Alasdair MacIntyre
- Narrated by: Tim Dalgleish
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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A Short History of Ethics is a significant contribution written by one of the most important living philosophers. It remains an important work, ideal for all students interested in ethics and morality.
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Great philosopher made ridiculous by accents
- By Olivia Walling on 10-04-17
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An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
- By: John Locke
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 30 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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John Locke and his works - particularly An Essay Concerning Human Understanding - are regularly and rightly presented as foundations for the Age of Enlightenment. His primary epistemological message - that the mind at birth is a blank sheet waiting to be filled by the experiences of the senses - complemented his primary political message: that human beings are free and equal and have the right to envision, create and direct the governments that rule them and the societies within which they live.
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Exhaustive Philosophic Treatise
- By No to Statism on 09-25-18
By: John Locke
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Reflections on the Revolution in France
- By: Edmund Burke
- Narrated by: Bernard Mayes
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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This famous treatise began as a letter to a young French friend who asked Edmund Burke’s opinion on whether France’s new ruling class would succeed in creating a better order. Doubtless the friend expected a favorable reply, but Burke was suspicious of certain tendencies of the Revolution from the start and perceived that the revolutionaries were actually subverting the true "social order". Blending history with principle and graceful imagery with profound practical maxims, this book is one of the most influential political treatises in the history of the world.
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A good historical perspective
- By CMC on 08-30-14
By: Edmund Burke
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On the Soul & Parva Naturalia
- By: Aristotle
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Two contrasting reflections by Aristotle which cover very particular ground. In 'On the Soul', Aristotle presents his view of the 'life essence' which, he argues, is possessed by living things whether plants, animals or humans. Not a 'soul' in the generally accepted Western use of the term, this 'soul', he says, is a life force that is indivisible from the organism that possesses it.
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DeAnima. Aristotle on the soul.
- By Reader on 07-28-18
By: Aristotle
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Dialogues of Plato
- By: Plato
- Narrated by: Pat Bottino
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The Dialogues of Plato rank with the writings of Aristotle as the most important and influential philosophical works in Western thought. In them Plato cast his teacher Socrates as the central disputant in colloquies that brilliantly probe a vast spectrum of philosophical ideas and issues.
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Not Complete Dialogues
- By Jill on 08-30-07
By: Plato
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The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind
- By: Gustave Le Bon
- Narrated by: Joseph Gomez
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind is a seminal work on crowd psychology by Gustave Le Bon (1841-1931), a French social psychologist. He observes that a crowd forms when an influential idea unites a number of individuals and prompts them to act towards a common goal. In a crowd, the conscious personality of the individual is submerged and dominated by the collective mind. Furthermore, every sentiment becomes contagious to a degree that individuals readily sacrifice their personal interest to the collective.
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A must read in terms of group psychology....
- By Alednam A Uonopk on 08-19-20
By: Gustave Le Bon
What listeners say about An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-30-20
review
I was very excited to bring the principal of pain and pleasure as the basic denomemetter of human nature. but he he really subdivided and really made big mess. good for the lawyers that generally wants to make a big mess of a simple situation.
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- Roz Johnson
- 08-23-22
I disliked the footnotes
it isn't very often that I return books, but would be why. it really removes one away from the material. I gave it 2 stars because the narrator was good
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