{"title":"The Soul of Justice","authors":"Gerald J. Postema","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198793175.003.0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198793175.003.0012","url":null,"abstract":"Law has the task of securing us against the abuse of power, but it also creates new opportunities and resources for such abuse. The only effective solution to this problem, according to Bentham, lay in publicity, the most robust and comprehensive system of public oversight of public power in all its forms. Security against misrule was his mantra and his singular aim; publicity was his most powerful tool. Law’s ruling, Bentham argued, ultimately depends upon the spirit, intelligence, vigilance, intrepidity, energy, and perseverance of the public. Public opinion can work its constraining magic only if at every point the exercise of governmental power is public. In his extended discussion of securities against misrule, we have a sustained, articulated exploration of the necessary infrastructure of the rule of law. Bentham analyzed the background conditions and engineered the supporting institutions needed for a comprehensive and effective architecture of accountability. He enlisted every kind of device and facility he could imagine for this purpose. Laws requiring all kinds of openness and disclosure of governmental actions were among these devices, but he also thought about the physical and social structures of public spaces. He was an engineer and architect of publicity.","PeriodicalId":163213,"journal":{"name":"Utility, Publicity, and Law","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115873116","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Normative Theory","authors":"G. Postema","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198793175.003.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198793175.003.0003","url":null,"abstract":"The ultimate ground of Bentham’s normative philosophy was the principle of utility. It functioned for Bentham as the fundamental evaluative and decision principle and principle of institutional design. The principle combines universal consequentialism (the ultimate aim of morality is to promote the overall good of the community) with impartial hedonism (that the good of the community must be understood in terms of the subjective well-being or happiness of each considered impartially). Bentham maintained that at bottom moral judgments are expressions of approval or disapproval that appeal beyond themselves to some public matters of fact and that appeal to pleasures and pains can only serve this purpose. This essential meta-ethical requirement of publicity of moral judgment supplied the basic elements for an indirect argument for the principle of utility and the foundation of his critique of natural rights. Justice, he argued, is not opposed to utility so understood, but rather is a species of utility.","PeriodicalId":163213,"journal":{"name":"Utility, Publicity, and Law","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116860077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}