Question

This is for philosophy not psychology (there was no option of this)

What are Bentham's arguments against the principle of asceticism?

What are Bentham's arguments against the principle of sympathy and antipathy?

How, according to Bentham, are pleasures and pains to be measured?

Answer 1

Jeremy Bentham introduces asceticism as the opposite of utilitarian principle. Utilitarian principle refers to acts that increases benefit and happiness to more number of people but asceticism refers to acts that brings happiness and utility to least number of people. Acts of asceticism is not good for people as it wouldn’t bring any pleasure to people if at all it brings, it would bring to few people.

Jeremy Bentham’s concept of sympathy and antipathy refers to how people perceive events and react to them based on their feelings because according to him people’s feelings affect their consciousness thus deciding whether to act or not. Morality here depends on the person’s perspective.

Jeremy Bentham tries to measure pain and pleasure with three elements such as duration which refers to how long it would last, certainty which refers to the confirmation of the pleasures and pain and extent which refers to the intensity of the pain or pleasure.