90-469: Benthem may refer to: For the English jurist and philosopher, see Jeremy Bentham . Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham ( / ˈ b ɛ n θ ə m / ; 4 February 1747/8 O.S. [15 February 1748 N.S. ] – 6 June 1832) was an English philosopher , jurist , and social reformer regarded as the founder of modern utilitarianism . Bentham defined as the "fundamental axiom " of his philosophy
180-405: A 'regent' or 'regent master.' Upon completing this period of teaching, they would become a 'non-regent master' and either leave the university or remain to pursue further studies in one of the higher faculties—Divinity, Canon or Civil Law, or Medicine. Over time, it became possible to study in these higher faculties as a BA, although a graduate could not be promoted to a higher degree until they had
270-556: A Mr Whitehorne and daughter of mercer Thomas Grove, of Andover. His wealthy family were supporters of the Tory party . He was reportedly a child prodigy: he was found as a toddler sitting at his father's desk reading a multi-volume history of England, and he began to study Latin at the age of three. He learnt to play the violin , and at the age of seven Bentham would perform sonatas by Handel during dinner parties. He had one surviving sibling, Samuel Bentham (1757–1831), with whom he
360-427: A complete legal code for the young country. After he learned more about American law and realised that most of it was state-based, he promptly wrote to the governors of every single state with the same offer. During his lifetime, Bentham's codification efforts were completely unsuccessful. Even today, they have been completely rejected by almost every common law jurisdiction, including England. However, his writings on
450-484: A fee. There are other situations in which the MA may be awarded, such as to members of staff, but these are the most common. Specific regulations can be found in the statutes of the respective universities. In accordance with the formula of ad eundem gradum , a form of mutual recognition among the three universities, a graduate entitled to an MA degree from one institution may have the equivalent title conferred by one of
540-479: A formal exam for the Master of Arts was introduced. Other American colleges in the mid to late 1800s, awarded a Master of Arts "in course" to graduates of three years standing, including at Amherst College and Union College . At Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin, a Bachelor of Arts graduate may "incept" as a Master of Arts after a certain period, without further examination or residence but sometimes upon payment of
630-407: A human motive. Mill considered Bentham's view "to have done and to be doing very serious evil." In Mill's hands, "Benthamism" became a major element in the liberal conception of state policy objectives. Bentham's critics have claimed that he undermined the foundation of a free society by rejecting natural rights . Historian Gertrude Himmelfarb wrote "The principle of the greatest happiness of
720-524: A letter to the editor of the Morning Chronicle in March 1825, he wrote: I never have seen, nor ever can see, any objection to the putting of dogs and other inferior animals to pain, in the way of medical experiment, when that experiment has a determinate object, beneficial to mankind, accompanied with a fair prospect of the accomplishment of it. But I have a decided and insuperable objection to
810-572: A means of helping to create full employment . He was also aware of the relevance of forced saving, propensity to consume , the saving-investment relationship, and other matters that form the content of modern income and employment analysis. His monetary view was close to the fundamental concepts employed in his model of utilitarian decision making. His work is considered to be an early precursor of modern welfare economics . Bentham stated that pleasures and pains can be ranked according to their value or "dimension" such as intensity, duration, certainty of
900-445: A pleasure or a pain. He was concerned with maxima and minima of pleasures and pains; and they set a precedent for the future employment of the maximisation principle in the economics of the consumer, the firm and the search for an optimum in welfare economics. Bentham advocated "Pauper Management" which involved the creation of a chain of large workhouses. Karl Marx described Bentham as "a genius of bourgeois stupidity". Bentham
990-514: A precondition for the formation of expectations. As the hedonic calculus shows "expectation utilities" to be much higher than natural ones, it follows that Bentham does not favour the sacrifice of a few to the benefit of the many. Law professor Alan Dershowitz has quoted Bentham to argue that torture should sometimes be permitted. Utilitarianism was revised and expanded by Bentham's student John Stuart Mill , who sharply criticised Bentham's view of human nature, which failed to recognise conscience as
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#17327730596901080-602: A result, these degrees are often referred to as the Oxford and Cambridge MA and the Dublin or Trinity MA to distinguish them. Similarly, in the ancient Scottish universities , the degree of Master of Arts is awarded as an undergraduate degree in certain subjects. Upon promotion to MA, graduates no longer wear the academic dress or use the post-nominal letters associated with the Bachelor of Arts. This system dates back to
1170-464: A site at Tothill Fields, near Westminster . Although this was common land, with no landowner, there were a number of parties with interests in it, including Earl Grosvenor , who owned a house on an adjacent site and objected to the idea of a prison overlooking it. Again, therefore, the scheme ground to a halt At this point, however, it became clear that a nearby site at Millbank , adjoining the Thames ,
1260-454: A small number of managers to oversee the activities of a large and unskilled workforce. Bentham began to develop this model, particularly as applicable to prisons, and outlined his ideas in a series of letters sent home to his father in England. He supplemented the supervisory principle with the idea of contract management ; that is, an administration by contract as opposed to trust, where
1350-428: A society. He calls for legislators to determine whether punishment creates an even more evil offence. Instead of suppressing the evil acts, Bentham argues that certain unnecessary laws and punishments could ultimately lead to new and more dangerous vices than those being punished to begin with, and calls upon legislators to measure the pleasures and pains associated with any legislation and to form laws in order to create
1440-560: A student would first earn a baccalaureate, or Bachelor's degree , after completing part of their studies. The division between the trivium and quadrivium did not always correspond to the division between the BA and MA degrees, though it was adopted at Cambridge during the Tudor period and remained in place long after other European universities had moved away from it. At the University of Paris ,
1530-423: Is a matter of amusement to see a dog or a horse suffer, it should not be matter of like amusement to see a man suffer; seeing, as I do, how much more morality as well as intelligence, an adult quadruped of those and many other species has in him, than any biped has for some months after he has been brought into existence; nor does it appear to me how it should be, that a person to whom the production of pain, either in
1620-421: Is beyond comparison a more rational, as well as a more conversable animal, than an infant of a day or a week or even a month, old. But suppose the case were otherwise, what would it avail? The question is not, Can they reason ? nor, Can they talk ? but, Can they suffer ? Earlier in the paragraph, Bentham makes clear that he accepted that animals could be killed for food, or in defence of human life, provided that
1710-651: Is clear that these are nominal and unexamined titles. Additionally, the BA degree is not shown alongside the MA award; only the MA should be used. If someone incorporates from one of the above universities to another, the Latin et can be inserted between the university names, e.g. "MA (Oxon et Cantab)", etc. as opposed to "MA (Oxon), MA (Cantab)" which would indicate that the holder graduated BA at both universities. The Oxford University Gazette and University Calendar have, since 2007, used Oxf rather than Oxon (also Camb rather than Cantab and Dub rather than Dubl) to match
1800-418: Is considered as the "Father of Utilitarianism". His ambition in life was to create a "Pannomion", a complete utilitarian code of law. He not only proposed many legal and social reforms, but also expounded an underlying moral principle on which they should be based. This philosophy of utilitarianism took for its "fundamental axiom" to be the notion that it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that
1890-454: Is required for this promotion, which is a mark of seniority rather than an additional postgraduate qualification. While these universities award postgraduate master's degrees that require further study and examination, they do not award the title 'MA' for any postgraduate degree. This practice differs from that of most universities worldwide, where the MA reflects further postgraduate study. As
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#17327730596901980-424: Is the measure of right and wrong . Bentham claimed to have borrowed this concept from the writings of Joseph Priestley , although the closest that Priestley in fact came to expressing it was in the form "the good and happiness of the members, that is the majority of the members of any state, is the great standard by which every thing [ sic ] relating to that state must finally be determined." Bentham
2070-568: The High Steward at Cambridge. The privileges accorded to MAs and other members of Convocation/Senate were formerly very important. At Oxford, until 1998 the Proctors only had the power to discipline "junior members" (those who had not been admitted to membership of Convocation), which meant that any graduate student who had incepted as an MA was immune from their authority. At Cambridge, MAs and those with MA status continue to be exempt from
2160-779: The Magna Carta as important, citing it to argue that the treatment of convicts in Australia was unlawful. Bentham was also a sharp critic of legal fictions . Bentham's students included his secretary and collaborator James Mill , the latter's son, John Stuart Mill , the legal philosopher John Austin and American writer and activist John Neal . He "had considerable influence on the reform of prisons, schools, poor laws, law courts, and Parliament itself." On his death in 1832, Bentham left instructions for his body to be first dissected and then to be permanently preserved as an " auto-icon " (or self-image), which would be his memorial. This
2250-708: The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education showed that 62% of employers were unaware that the Cambridge MA did not represent any kind of postgraduate achievement involving study. The same survey found widespread ignorance amongst employers regarding university-level qualifications in general: 51% believed the Edinburgh MA to be a postgraduate qualification, 22% were unaware that a Doctorate in Business Administration
2340-406: The felicific calculus , Bentham proposed a classification of 12 pains and 14 pleasures, by which we might test the " happiness factor " of any action. For Bentham, according to P. J. Kelly, the law "provides the basic framework of social interaction by delimiting spheres of personal inviolability within which individuals can form and pursue their own conceptions of well-being". It provides security,
2430-535: The moral status of any action, which he called the hedonistic or felicific calculus . Principle of utility The principle of utility, or " greatest happiness principle ", forms the cornerstone of all Bentham's thought. By "happiness", he understood a predominance of "pleasure" over "pain". He wrote in An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation : Nature has placed mankind under
2520-641: The American colonies published their Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the British government did not issue any official response but instead secretly commissioned London lawyer and pamphleteer John Lind to publish a rebuttal. His 130-page tract was distributed in the colonies and contained an essay titled "Short Review of the Declaration" written by Bentham, a friend of Lind, which attacked and mocked
2610-528: The Americans' political philosophy . In 1786 and 1787, Bentham travelled to Krichev in White Russia (modern Belarus ) to visit his brother, Samuel , who was engaged in managing various industrial and other projects for Prince Potemkin . It was Samuel (as Jeremy later repeatedly acknowledged) who conceived the basic idea of a circular building at the hub of a larger compound as a means of allowing
2700-468: The Inns of Court or a teaching hospital, and return for a professional bachelor's degree, as was the case with William Blackstone . Until 1865, all students at King's College, Cambridge were from Eton College and could graduate BA and later MA without taking university exams. Similarly, students at New College, Oxford , who all came from Winchester College , had the same exemptions until 1834. Although
2790-410: The MA examination was abolished in 1807. From at least the 16th century, noblemen formed the most select group of undergraduates, paying four times the normal fees and sometimes receiving an MA degree after just two years of residence, without completing the BA degree. However, many did not stay long enough to graduate. Noblemen were distinguished by gold tassels on their mortarboard caps, compared to
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2880-611: The Middle Ages when the study of the liberal arts typically took seven years. At that time, students often entered university at a much younger age than is common today, sometimes as young as 14 or 15. The basic university education comprised the Trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic) and the Quadrivium (geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music), which together took about seven years of full-time study. During this period,
2970-579: The National Colonization Society's 'Proposal'. In 1823, he co-founded The Westminster Review with James Mill as a journal for the " Philosophical Radicals "—a group of younger disciples through whom Bentham exerted considerable influence in British public life. One was John Bowring , to whom Bentham became devoted, describing their relationship as "son and father": he appointed Bowring political editor of The Westminster Review and eventually his literary executor . Another
3060-485: The Senate House Examination to receive an honours degree. Below these were commoners at Oxford or pensioners at Cambridge and Dublin, who paid the standard fees and were more likely to remain and graduate. At the bottom were servitors at Oxford and sizars at Cambridge and Dublin, who had their fees subsidized by the college in exchange for menial duties. Oliver Goldsmith was a sizar; Isaac Newton
3150-569: The University of Dublin between 1904 and 1907, at a time when their own universities refused to confer degrees upon women), some, like Julia Bell , earned MAs. While today only Cambridge, Oxford, and Trinity College, Dublin promote students to the degree of Master of Arts three years after graduation, this was a practice at other colleges before the 20th century. In the United States, Harvard University engaged in this practice from
3240-469: The ancient model. Most modern universities followed their lead, with the Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin system becoming the exception. Some universities adopted the ancient model temporarily, allowing progression within the same faculty, such as from BSc to MSc, but later switched to the newer system. Among the " steamboat ladies " (female students at Oxford and Cambridge who were awarded ad eundem degrees by
3330-427: The animal was not made to suffer unnecessarily. Bentham did not object to medical experiments on animals , providing that the experiments had in mind a particular goal of benefit to humanity, and had a reasonable chance of achieving that goal. He wrote that otherwise he had a "decided and insuperable objection" to causing pain to animals, in part because of the harmful effects such practices might have on human beings. In
3420-513: The baccalaureate was awarded soon after responsions (the matriculation exam), while at Oxford and Cambridge the BA was granted much later and became more significant over time. Upon being admitted to the degree of Master of Arts, a student would become a full member of the university and gain the right to vote in the Convocation. The new MA could then teach at the university for a set number of years, during which time they were referred to as
3510-438: The black ones worn by students of lower social ranks. Students of the next rank— fellow-commoners at Cambridge and Dublin or gentlemen commoners at Oxford—paid twice the standard fees, dined with the fellows, and were exempt from attending lectures and performing exercises required for the BA. They could graduate a year earlier than students in lower ranks. However, at Cambridge, both higher categories were still required to take
3600-400: The caprice of a tormentor. It may one day come to be recognised that the number of the legs, the villosity of the skin, or the termination of the os sacrum are reasons equally insufficient for abandoning a sensitive being to the same fate. What else is it that should trace the insuperable line? Is it the faculty of reason or perhaps the faculty of discourse ? But a full-grown horse or dog,
3690-419: The country seat of his patron Lord Lansdowne , he had passed his time at falling unsuccessfully in love with all the ladies of the house, whom he courted with a clumsy jocularity, while playing chess with them or giving them lessons on the harpsichord . Hopeful to the last, at the age of eighty he wrote again to one of them, recalling to her memory the far-off days when she had "presented him, in ceremony, with
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3780-525: The criterion by which we judge who ought to have rights, human infants and adults with certain forms of disability might fall short, too. In 1780, alluding to the limited degree of legal protection afforded to slaves in the French West Indies by the Code Noir , he wrote: The day has been, I am sad to say in many places it is not yet past, in which the greater part of the species, under
3870-445: The denomination of slaves, have been treated by the law exactly upon the same footing, as, in England for example, the inferior races of animals are still. The day may come when the rest of the animal creation may acquire those rights which never could have been witholden from them but by the hand of tyranny. The French have already discovered that the blackness of the skin is no reason a human being should be abandoned without redress to
3960-461: The director would have a pecuniary interest in lowering the average rate of mortality. The Panopticon was intended to be cheaper than the prisons of his time, as it required fewer staff; "Allow me to construct a prison on this model", Bentham requested to a Committee for the Reform of Criminal Law, "I will be the gaoler . You will see ... that the gaoler will have no salary—will cost nothing to
4050-534: The entire Democracy or Commons of the United Kingdom". Describing himself, among the names mentioned which also included Sir Francis Burdett , George Ensor , and Sir Matthew Wood , and as a "nonentity", Bentham declined the offer. On 3 August 1831 the Committee of the National Colonization Society approved the printing of its proposal to establish a free colony on the south coast of Australia, funded by
4140-400: The flower in the green lane" [citing Bentham's memoirs]. To the end of his life he could not hear of Bowood without tears swimming in his eyes, and he was forced to exclaim, "Take me forward, I entreat you, to the future—do not let me go back to the past." A psychobiographical study by Philip Lucas and Anne Sheeran argues that he may have had Asperger's syndrome . Bentham's daily pattern
4230-404: 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. On the one hand the standard of right and wrong, on the other the chain of causes and effects, are fastened to their throne. They govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think.… Bentham's Principles of Morals and Legislation focuses on
4320-442: The greatest good for the greatest number. He argues that the concept of the individual pursuing his or her own happiness cannot be necessarily declared "right", because often these individual pursuits can lead to greater pain and less pleasure for a society as a whole. Therefore, the legislation of a society is vital to maintain the maximum pleasure and the minimum degree of pain for the greatest number of people. In his exposition of
4410-505: The greatest number was as inimical to the idea of liberty as to the idea of rights." Bentham's "hedonistic" theory (a term from J. J. C. Smart ) is often criticised for lacking a principle of fairness embodied in a conception of justice . In Bentham and the Common Law Tradition , Gerald J. Postema states: "No moral concept suffers more at Bentham's hand than the concept of justice. There is no sustained, mature analysis of
4500-552: The idea of a panopticon. Bentham, now aged 63, was still willing to be governor. However, as it became clear that there was still no real commitment to the proposal, he abandoned hope, and instead turned his attentions to extracting financial compensation for his years of fruitless effort. His initial claim was for the enormous sum of nearly £700,000, but he eventually settled for the more modest (but still considerable) sum of £23,000. The Penitentiary House, etc. Act 1812 [ d ] ( 52 Geo. 3 . c. 44) transferred his title in
4590-440: The legislation of a society. In order to measure the extent of pain or pleasure that a certain decision will create, he lays down a set of criteria divided into the categories of intensity , duration , certainty , proximity , productiveness , purity , and extent . Using these measurements, he reviews the concept of punishment and when it should be used as far as whether a punishment will create more pleasure or more pain for
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#17327730596904680-407: The length of undergraduate degree programs has been reduced to three or four years in all subjects, the MA degree at Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin is still awarded roughly seven years after matriculation. This reflects the fact that much of the liberal arts education has been transferred to grammar schools , with students now entering university at an older age, typically between 17 and 19. (In France,
4770-523: The mid-1600s until 1872. At Yale University, an MA without examination was award from its foundation until 1871. Likewise, Columbia University awarded the Master of Arts in this manner from its origins as King's College, during which, in 1761, three of the five members of the original graduating class of 1758 were promoted to Master of Arts. The practice was abolished by the Board of Trustees in June 1880, when
4860-436: The nation." As the watchmen cannot be seen, they need not be on duty at all times, effectively leaving the watching to the watched. According to Bentham's design, the prisoners would also be used as menial labour, walking on wheels to spin looms or run a water wheel . This would decrease the cost of the prison and give a possible source of income. The ultimately abortive proposal for a panopticon prison to be built in England
4950-712: The notion." Thus, some critics object, it would be acceptable to torture one person if this would produce an amount of happiness in other people outweighing the unhappiness of the tortured individual. However, as P. J. Kelly argued in Utilitarianism and Distributive Justice: Jeremy Bentham and the Civil Law , Bentham had a theory of justice that prevented such consequences. Bentham's opinions about monetary economics were completely different from those of David Ricardo ; however, they had some similarities to those of Henry Thornton . He focused on monetary expansion as
5040-454: The one or in the other instance, is a source of amusement, would scruple to give himself that amusement when he could do so under an assurance of impunity. Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin) In the universities of Oxford , Cambridge , and Dublin , Bachelors of Arts (BAs) are promoted to the rank of Master of Arts (MA), typically upon application after three or four years after graduation. No further examination or study
5130-412: The other two without further examination. Masters of Arts of the three universities may use the post-nominal letters "MA". Although honours are sometimes awarded for the examinations leading to the BA degree, the style "MA (Hons)" is not used. The abbreviated name of the university (Oxon, Cantab or Dubl) is often appended in parentheses to the initials "MA" (e.g. "John Smith, MA (Cantab)), so that it
5220-468: The panopticon was paradigmatic of several 19th-century " disciplinary " institutions. Bentham remained bitter throughout his later life about the rejection of the panopticon scheme, convinced that it had been thwarted by the King and an aristocratic elite. Philip Schofield argues that it was largely because of his sense of injustice and frustration that he developed his ideas of "sinister interest"—that is, of
5310-442: The principle of utility and how this view of morality ties into legislative practices. His principle of utility regards good as that which produces the greatest amount of pleasure and the minimum amount of pain and evil as that which produces the most pain without the pleasure. This concept of pleasure and pain is defined by Bentham as physical as well as spiritual. Bentham writes about this principle as it manifests itself within
5400-464: The principle that "it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong." He became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law , and a political radical whose ideas influenced the development of welfarism . He advocated individual and economic freedoms , the separation of church and state , freedom of expression , equal rights for women,
5490-530: The prison built: when finished, it would be managed by himself as contractor-governor, with the assistance of Samuel. After unsuccessful attempts to interest the authorities in Ireland and revolutionary France, he started trying to persuade the prime minister, William Pitt , to revive an earlier abandoned scheme for a National Penitentiary in England, this time to be built as a panopticon. He was eventually successful in winning over Pitt and his advisors, and in 1794
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#17327730596905580-437: The putting of them to pain without any such view. To my apprehension, every act by which, without prospect of preponderant good, pain is knowingly and willingly produced in any being whatsoever, is an act of cruelty; and, like other bad habits, the more the correspondent habit is indulged in, the stronger it grows, and the more frequently productive of its bad fruit. I am unable to comprehend how it should be, that to him to whom it
5670-622: The revolutionary discourse of natural rights and of the violence that arose after the Jacobins took power (1792). Between 1808 and 1810, he held a personal friendship with Latin American revolutionary Francisco de Miranda and paid visits to Miranda's Grafton Way house in London. He also developed links with José Cecilio del Valle . In 1821, John Cartwright proposed to Bentham that they serve as "Guardians of Constitutional Reform", seven "wise men" whose reports and observations would "concern
5760-539: The right to divorce, and (in an unpublished essay) the decriminalising of homosexual acts. He called for the abolition of slavery , capital punishment , and physical punishment , including that of children. He has also become known as an early advocate of animal rights . Though strongly in favour of the extension of individual legal rights , he opposed the idea of natural law and natural rights (both of which are considered "divine" or "God-given" in origin), calling them "nonsense upon stilts". However, he viewed
5850-526: The right to elect senators to the upper house of the Irish parliament, Seanad Éireann , is now restricted to those who are Irish citizens and since 1918 the franchise was extended to include all graduates, not only those with an MA. The MA degree gives its holder a particular status in the universities' orders of precedence/seniority. In the University of Oxford a Master of Arts enjoys precedence, standing, and rank before all doctors, masters, and bachelors of
5940-517: The rules governing the ownership of motor vehicles by students. Other privileges intended for academic staff and alumni, e.g. the right to dine at High Table, to attend Gaudies , to walk upon college lawns, etc., are in most colleges restricted to MAs, which excludes the majority of graduate students. For Cambridge, membership of the Senate is no longer limited to the MA and in 2000, Oxford opened membership of Convocation to all graduates. For Dublin,
6030-694: The sale of appropriated colonial lands, overseen by a joint-stock company, and which would be granted powers of self-government as soon as was practicable. Contrary to assumptions, Bentham had no hand in the preparation of the 'Proposal to His Majesty's Government for founding a colony on the Southern Coast of Australia, which was prepared under the auspices of Robert Gouger , Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey , and Anthony Bacon . Bentham did, however, in August 1831, draft an unpublished work entitled 'Colonization Company Proposal', which constitutes his commentary upon
6120-495: The school-leaving certificate is still called the Baccalauréat .) Durham University (which awarded its first MA in 1838) and the University of London (first MA awarded in 1840) broke away from the ancient English model by treating the MA as a distinct higher degree, awarded after further examination. However, by instituting further study beyond the initial baccalaureate, these universities can be seen to have reverted to
6210-419: The seniority required to become an MA. As the requirements for the BA increased, the requirements for the MA gradually diminished. By the 18th century, the practice had largely become a formality, and students could meet residency requirements (once fulfilled by attending lectures) simply by keeping their names on the college books. In 1800, Oxford introduced modern-style examinations for the BA and MA degrees, but
6300-696: The site to the Crown. More successful was his cooperation with Patrick Colquhoun in tackling the corruption in the Pool of London . This resulted in the Depredations on the Thames Act 1800 ( 39 & 40 Geo. 3 . c. 87) The Act created the Thames River Police , which was the first preventive police force in the country and was a precedent for Robert Peel 's reforms 30 years later. Bentham
6390-523: The status of MA is automatically accorded to graduates of other universities studying in Cambridge who are aged 24 or older (graduate students under 24 years are given BA status). This entitles them to wear the appropriate Cambridge gown, but without strings. For the above cases, the status is not a degree so is automatically relinquished upon leaving the University (in the case of Oxford) or completion of their degree (for Cambridge). In 2000, research by
6480-474: The style used for other universities. The degree of Master of Arts traditionally carried various rights and privileges, the chief of which was membership of the legislative bodies of the universities – Convocation at Oxford and the Senate at Cambridge and Dublin. These were originally important decision-making bodies, approving changes to the statutes of the universities and electing various officials, including
6570-399: The subject laid the foundation for the moderately successful codification work of David Dudley Field II in the United States a generation later. Bentham is widely regarded as one of the earliest proponents of animal rights . He argued and believed that the ability to suffer, not the ability to reason, should be the benchmark, or what he called the "insuperable line". If reason alone were
6660-551: The two members of Parliament for each university. Inception to the MA degree was the principal way of becoming a member of these bodies, though it is not the only way, e.g. at Oxford Doctors of Divinity, Medicine and Civil Law were always also automatically members of Convocation. Today, the main role of Convocation and Senate is the election of the Chancellor of each university as well as the Professor of Poetry at Oxford and
6750-407: The university who are not Masters of Arts, apart from Doctors of Divinity and Doctors of Civil Law . Precedence, standing, and rank were formerly important for determining eligibility for appointments such as fellowships, but now generally have only a ceremonial significance. In Oxford, until 2000 the university statutes required that all members of Congregation (the academic and senior staff of
6840-405: The university) have at least the degree of DD, DM, DCL or MA or have MA status. This linked back to the MA as the licence to teach in the university. MA status was thus routinely granted to academics from other universities who came to take up positions within the university; while it is no longer granted in this way, many members of Congregation appointed before 2000 retain MA status. In Cambridge,
6930-427: The vested interests of the powerful conspiring against a wider public interest—which underpinned many of his broader arguments for reform. On his return to England from Russia, Bentham had commissioned drawings from an architect, Willey Reveley . In 1791, he published the material he had written as a book, although he continued to refine his proposals for many years to come. He had by now decided that he wanted to see
7020-630: Was Edwin Chadwick , who wrote on hygiene, sanitation, and policing and was a major contributor to the Poor Law Amendment Act : Bentham employed Chadwick as a secretary and bequeathed him a large legacy. Bentham had several infatuations with women, and wrote on sex. He never married. An insight into his character is given in Michael St. John Packe's The Life of John Stuart Mill : During his youthful visits to Bowood House ,
7110-572: Was a higher qualification than an undergraduate Diploma of Higher Education , and 40% thought that a BA or BSc was a postgraduate degree. In February 2011, the then Labour MP for Nottingham East, Chris Leslie , sponsored a private member's bill, the Master's Degrees (Minimum Standards) Bill 2010–12 , to "prohibit universities awarding Master's degrees unless certain standards of study and assessment are met". The bill's second reading debate occurred on 21 October 2011, but ran out of time. In Ireland,
7200-412: Was a rare major figure in the history of philosophy to endorse psychological egoism . He was also a determined opponent of religion, as Crimmins observes: "Between 1809 and 1823 Jeremy Bentham carried out an exhaustive examination of religion with the declared aim of extirpating religious beliefs, even the idea of religion itself, from the minds of men." Bentham also suggested a procedure for estimating
7290-399: Was a subsizar. These distinctions were gradually phased out during the 19th century. Reforms in the late 16th century allowed some ordinary undergraduates to bypass the BA stage altogether. Previously, it was necessary to wait three years after earning a BA to become a bachelor of laws or medicine, but after paying a fine, students could leave college after three years of residence to study at
7380-504: Was available for sale, and this time things ran more smoothly. Using government money, Bentham bought the land on behalf of the Crown for £12,000 in November 1799. From his point of view, the site was far from ideal, being marshy, unhealthy, and too small. When he asked the government for more land and more money, however, the response was that he should build only a small-scale experimental prison—which he interpreted as meaning that there
7470-406: Was close. He attended Westminster School ; in 1760, at age 12, his father sent him to The Queen's College, Oxford , where he completed his bachelor's degree in 1764, receiving the title of MA in 1767. He trained as a lawyer and, though he never practised, was called to the bar in 1769. He became deeply frustrated with the complexity of English law, which he termed the "Demon of Chicane". When
7560-614: Was done, and the auto-icon is now on public display in the entrance of the Student Centre at University College London (UCL). Because of his arguments in favour of the general availability of education, he has been described as the "spiritual founder" of UCL. However, he played only a limited direct part in its foundation. Bentham was born on 4 February 1747/8 O.S. [15 February 1748 N.S. ] in Houndsditch , London , to attorney Jeremiah Bentham and Alicia Woodward, widow of
7650-491: Was in correspondence with many influential people. In the 1780s, for example, Bentham maintained a correspondence with the ageing Adam Smith , in an unsuccessful attempt to convince Smith that interest rates should be allowed to freely float. As a result of his correspondence with Mirabeau and other leaders of the French Revolution , Bentham was declared an honorary citizen of France. He was an outspoken critic of
7740-445: Was little real commitment to the concept of the panopticon as a cornerstone of penal reform Negotiations continued, but in 1801 Pitt resigned from office, and in 1803 the new Addington administration decided not to proceed with the project. Bentham was devastated: "They have murdered my best days." Nevertheless, a few years later the government revived the idea of a National Penitentiary, and in 1811 and 1812 returned specifically to
7830-457: Was one among his many proposals for legal and social reform. But Bentham spent some sixteen years of his life developing and refining his ideas for the building and hoped that the government would adopt the plan for a National Penitentiary appointing him as contractor-governor. Although the prison was never built, the concept had an important influence on later generations of thinkers. Twentieth-century French philosopher Michel Foucault argued that
7920-439: Was paid £2,000 for preliminary work on the project.< The intended site was one that had been authorised (under an act of 1779 ) for the earlier penitentiary, at Battersea Rise; but the new proposals ran into technical legal problems and objections from the local landowner, Earl Spencer . Other sites were considered, including one at Hanging Wood, near Woolwich , but all proved unsatisfactory. Eventually Bentham turned to
8010-432: Was the first person to be an aggressive advocate for the codification of all of the common law into a coherent set of statutes; he was actually the person who coined the verb "to codify" to refer to the process of drafting a legal code. He lobbied hard for the formation of codification commissions in both England and the United States, and went so far as to write to President James Madison in 1811 to volunteer to write
8100-533: Was to rise at 6 am, walk for 2 hours or more, and then work until 4 pm. The Faculty of Laws at University College London occupies Bentham House, next to the main UCL campus. Bentham's name was adopted by the Australian litigation funder IMF Limited to become Bentham IMF Limited on 28 November 2013, in recognition of Bentham being "among the first to support the utility of litigation funding". Bentham today
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