Jeremy Bentham 1748 – 1832

Jeremy Bentham was an 18th and 19th-century English philosopher, jurist, and social reformer, the founder of modern utilitarian ethics. His 1789 work An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation set out the principle of utility as the foundation of morality and legislation, holding that the right action is the one that produces the greatest happiness of the greatest number. He developed the felicific calculus, a method of calculating the moral value of an action by quantifying the pleasures and pains it produces. His proposals for prison reform, including the Panopticon, and his radical critique of the English legal system anticipated subsequent reform movements. His will requested that his preserved body be displayed at University College London, where the Auto-Icon remains on public view to this day.