| 释义 |
Benthamism|ˈbɛnθəmɪz(ə)m|
[see -ism.]
The philosophical system of Jeremy Bentham, an eminent English jurist and writer on law and ethics, 1748–1832, who taught that the aim or end of life is happiness, identified by him with pleasure, and that the highest morality is the pursuit of the greatest happiness of the greatest number. So Benˈthamic a., of or according to Bentham (for this Carlyle has the contemptuous Benthaˈmee). ˈBenthamite n., an adherent of the Benthamic philosophy; a. = prec. ˈBenthamry, a contemptuous appellation for ‘Benthamism.’
1826Times 8 Nov. 2/6 The Ghost of Miltiades came at night, And he stood by the bed of the Benthamite. 1829J. Sterling Let. in Ess. & Tales (1848) I. p. xxix, It was the first help I had in getting out of the slough of Benthamism. 1829Mill in Autobiogr. (1924) App. 301 Those who are ignorant enough to fancy that there is a Benthamite sect. Ibid., What are vulgarly considered to be the Benthamite doctrines. 1832― Let. 22 Oct. in Wks. XII. (1963) 128 You know our Benthamic Utilitarians. 1840Carlyle Heroes v. 271 Benthamism is an eyeless Heroism. 1865M. Arnold Ess. Crit. (1875) Pref. 11 The British nation..has finally anchored itself..on Benthamism. a1866J. Grote Exam. Util. Philos. xv. 227 Benthamic utilitarianism. Ibid. xvi. 247 Benthamic despotism. 1840Carlyle Heroes ii. 119 Benthamee utility, virtue by Profit and Loss. a1852Moore Ghost of Miltiades 54 A parting kick to the Benthamite. 1882Athenæum 15 Apr. 468/1 The too confident optimism of the Benthamites. Ibid. 28 Jan. 117/3 Summarizing and co-ordinating the work of the Benthamite circles. 1855Ess. Intuit. Morals 149 note, Public Eudaimonism, however, as I have described it, is not Benthamry. |