Jeremy Bentham  (1748 - 1832)

Names Index:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
| Authors Index | Scholars Index |

A Fragment on Government by Jeremy Bentham

Originally prepared as a part of Bentham's Collected Works, this volume now makes one of the central texts in the development of utilitarian tradition available in its own authoritative 1977 edition.

Bentham, Jeremy (1748-1832)

PHILOSOPHER

Credited as the founder of utilitarianism, English philosopher Jeremy Bentham wrote more than 500 pages on sex between men. These writings are now considered to be the first modern treatment on the subject. Bentham argued, that according to his theory of utilitarianism, male-male love had beneficial effects and condemned the persecution of men who had sex with men as forms intolerance and cruelty. In addition to trying to write a history of male-male love, and although there was no word for it at the time, Bentham also tried to explain the origins of homophobia.

Related Resources:

Offences Against One's Self

by Jeremy Bentham

First published in the 1978 summer and fall issues of Journal of Homosexuality, v.3:4(1978), p.389-405; continued in v.4:1(1978)

Editor's Abstract: This is the first publication of Jeremy Bentham's essay on "Paederasty," written about 1785. The essay which runs to over 60 manuscript pages, is the first known argument for homosexual law reform in England. Bentham advocates the decriminalization of' sodomy, which in his day was punished by hanging. He argues that homosexual acts do not "weaken" men, or threaten population or marriage, and documents their prevalence in ancient Greece and Rome. Bentham opposes punishment on utilitarian grounds and attacks ascetic sexual morality...

Names Index:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
| Authors Index | Scholars Index |