THE HAPPINESS PHILOSOPHERS.

AuthorBrown, Elizabeth Nolan
PositionBOOK - Brief article - Book review

Thanks to critics from Charles Dickens to Michel Foucault, pre-20th century utilitarian philosophers have gained a reputation as amoral libertines or cold rationalists, impervious to what people today might call "social justice." But William Godwin, Jeremy Bentham, and other classical utilitarians were dedicated humanists, deeply concerned with social reform, and often radically progressive on women's rights, sexual relations, and other cultural issues.

In The Happiness Philosophers (Princeton), the University of Chicago philosophy professor Bart Schultz explores how these liberal values were not in tension with utilitarianism but a natural outgrowth of the philosophy's emphasis on maximizing happiness. As a reading experience, the book suffers from a dry academic tone and disjointed format, but it is peppered with interesting information.

"Bentham, more than any other figure discussed in this book, needs to be...

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