Bentham's Political Economy

Hosted by the Bentham Project and Faculty of Laws, University College London.

The Bentham Project

A conference  exploring the seminal economic thought of philosopher and reformer Jeremy Bentham, to be held at UCL on 16 –17 December 2019

Gideon Schreier Lecture Theatre

The philosopher and reformer Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) is celebrated as both the founder of classical utilitarianism and a profound theorist of law. Despite his seminal treatment of rationality as cost–benefit analysis, and his recognition of the phenomenon of diminishing marginal utility however, he is often either overlooked altogether in histories of economic thought, or relegated to the status of a footnote. The Bentham Project and UCL Faculty of Laws are therefore delighted to be hosting a conference, to be held on 16–17 December 2019, on Bentham’s Political Economy.The programme for the conference can be found below, or <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/3poe8gtdmz4ucsg/9%20December%20Programe%20final.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">downloaded in PDF format</a>.Day 1: Monday 16 December 20199.00–9.30: Registration and coffee9.30–9.45: Welcome by Philip Schofield (UCL Bentham Project)9.45–11.00: Richard Whatmore (St Andrews): &#x27;Bentham and the end of enlightenment&#x27;11.00–11.20: coffee break11.20–12.50: Panel 1<ul><li>Andy Dennis (City) ‘Jeremy Bentham: from laissez-faire to dirigisme, and from natural law via atomism to a secular organicism’.</li></ul><ul><li>Michael Quinn (UCL Bentham Project): &#x27;Bentham&#x27;s Political Economy: Economics or Politics?&#x27;</li></ul>12.50–1.50: Lunch1.50–3.05: Marco Guidi (Pisa): &#x27;The place of political economy in Bentham&#x27;s Science of Legislation reconsidered&#x27;3.05–3.25: coffee break3.25–4.55: Panel 2<ul><li>E.G. Gallwey (Harvard University): &#x27;Empires, Republics, and Financial Democracy: Jeremy Bentham and Albert Gallatin in the political economy of the early United States&#x27;</li><li>Vincent-Emmanuel Mathon: &#x27;Tokenizing Bentham: Paper, Gold, and Crypto-currencies&#x27;</li></ul>5.00-6.30: Book Launch: Happiness and Utility: Essays presented to Frederick Rosen, ed. G. Varouxakis &amp; M. Philp, London, UCL Press, 2019Day 2: Tuesday 17 December 20199.00–9.30: registration and coffee9.30–10.45: Stephen Engelmann (Illinois at Chicago): &#x27;Bentham, Political Economy, and Economic Rationality&#x27;10.45–11.05: coffee break11.05–12.35: Panel 3<ul><li>Adrian Walsh (University of New England, Australia): &#x27;Bentham&#x27;s Objections to Traditional Usury Doctrine: their normative underpinnings and historical significance&#x27;</li><li>Benjamin Bourcier (Lille Catholic University). ‘The politics of international commerce in debate: Smith and Bentham’.</li></ul>12.35–1.45: Lunch1.45–3.15: Panel 4<ul><li>Anthony Howe (University of East Anglia): &#x27;Richard Cobden and the Benthamite legacy&#x27;</li><li>Michael Drolet (Worcester College, Oxford): &#x27;From Utility to Radical Equality: the case of Jeremy Bentham and Joseph Rey&#x27; (Dr Drolet&#x27;s paper will be read by a substitute)</li></ul>3.15–3.35: coffee break3.35–4.50: Annie Cot (Paris I): &#x27;On Bentham&#x27;s Epistemological Reordering of Science and Art of Political Economy&#x27;4.50: Michael Quinn and Philip Schofield: closing remarksThe Bentham Project is grateful to the Leverhulme Trust for funding the conference, and for their generosity in funding editorial work on the final three of five volumes comprizing Writings on Political Economy, a major sub-project in the new authoritative edition of The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham. We are also grateful to the Economic and Social Research Council, whose earlier grant supported the editing of the first two volumes. Available now from Oxford University Press:<ul><li><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/writings-on-political-economy-9780198767961?prevSortField=1&amp;sortField=8&amp;start=0&amp;resultsPerPage=20&amp;prevNumResPerPage=20&amp;lang=en&amp;cc=gb" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Writings on Political Economy: Volume I</a>, ed. Michael Quinn—includes &#x27;Defence of Usury&#x27;, &#x27;Manual of Political Economy&#x27;, and &#x27;A Protest against Law Taxes&#x27;.</li><li><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/writings-on-political-economy-9780198809005?prevSortField=1&amp;sortField=8&amp;start=0&amp;resultsPerPage=20&amp;prevNumResPerPage=20&amp;lang=en&amp;cc=gb" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Writings on Political Economy: Volume II—Financial Resources</a>, ed. Michael Quinn—includes &#x27;Supply without Burthen&#x27; and &#x27;Proposals relative to divers modes of Supply&#x27;.</li></ul>Pre-publication texts now available for download:<ul><li><a href="http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10055084/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Writings on Political Economy: Volume III—Preventive Police</a>, ed. Michael Quinn—includes &#x27;A Bill for the establishment of a Board of Police, and for the suppression of divers Offices&#x27;.</li><li><a href="https://rdr.ucl.ac.uk/articles/Writings_on_Political_Economy_Volume_IV_Preliminaries_and_Text_files_1-5/9897596/2" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Writings on Political Economy: Volume IV—Circulating Annuities and other writings on National Debt</a>, ed. Michael Quinn: includes &#x27;Political Prospects; or, What&#x27;s to be done? or, What is to become of us?&#x27; and &#x27;Circulating Annuities&#x27;, </li><li><a href="https://rdr.ucl.ac.uk/articles/Writings_on_Political_Economy_Volume_V_Preliminaries_and_preliminary_text_files_1-2_5-15_/10110860" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Writings on Political Economy: Volume V—Wealth, Money, and Prices</a>, ed. Michael Quinn: includes &#x27;Thoughts on Paper Money&#x27;, &#x27;Defence of a Maximum&#x27;, and &#x27;Method and Leading Features of an Institute of Political Economy&#x27;.</li></ul>For queries, please contact the conference convenor <a href="http://mailto:m.quinn@ucl.ac.uk" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Dr Michael Quinn</a>.

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