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39
Dissatisfied as Mr. Bentham was with the term it may
still be doubted whether this is in reality any sufficient
ground for rejecting the phrase "greatest happiness of the
greatest number" — & The influence of the phrase upon man's
judgements & affections has been so salutary that to abandon it
would be no little loss to retardation of moral & political progress.
It may be doubted asked whether the objections apply to
the terms "greatest happiness of the greatest number" — Can
the happiness of a mere majority be the greatest happiness? —
Can a mere majority be the greatest number? — Compared
to what is lesser they may be greater, — but can either of
them be the greatest with a reference to the whole. Are
not the cases supposed by Mr Bentham really excluded by
the very terms of in which the principle is put [forward? It does
not appear a simple question of majority & minority —
The greatest happiness must obviously be maximized happiness —
the greatest number must as obviously be the whole.
Mr Bentham in proposing to employ the term "greatest happiness"
alone, has, it may reasonably be urged, taken much away
from the beneficent, — the enlarged — the diffusive character
of his earlier proposition. Yet it was due to him to present
the last word of his pen on a subject of such
transcendent interest.
Identifier: | JB/014/452/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 14.
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deontology |
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001 |
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linking material |
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recto |
f39 |
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sir john bowring |
[[watermarks::[partial fleur de lys motif]]] |
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5215 |
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