Jeremy Bentham (Jun Qin)

My name is Jeremy Bentham. The Industrial Revolution has not benefited the majority of the people; therefore, it has not had a positive influence on the lives of all of Europeans. In life, there are two motives: pleasure and pain, pleasure being the more positive of the two. The positive and moral act produces the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people, happiness being determined by reference to the presence of pleasure and the absence of pain. As pleasure is good, then it is good irrespective of whose pleasure it is. That which does not maximize the greatest happiness is, therefore, morally wrong. Yet, I do not see actions being committed for the majority; instead, it only benefits the minority. These business owners in Europe are iniquitous and corrupted by their greed, as they promote only the well-being of themselves and their family, instead of the community. It saddens me greatly to see people acting on selfish notions, but that is understandably human nature. In every human, self-regarding interest is predominant over social interest, the result of which has been the poor treatment of the workers. There has never been a greater discrepancy between the wealth of the different classes. As the managers govern the distribution of wealth within the factory system, they reduce the wages of their subordinates, so that they may maximize their own profits. Until human nature is reformed so that one seeks to promote societal interests, utopian society will not be achieved.