Political Philosophy

A Fragment on Government

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Jeremy Bentham

1776

Bentham's first published work, written at twenty-eight, is a searching critique of Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. By exposing the logical contradictions and ideological conservatism concealed in Blackstone's praise of the English constitution, Bentham argues that governments are justified only insofar as they promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number — not by appeals to tradition, natural law, or fictional social contracts. The Fragment established Bentham as a rigorous and irreverent critic of legal orthodoxy.