Is there a difference between utilitarianism and Benthamism?

Question

Was Benthamism the political manifestation of the theory of Utility?

Answer 1

Something along those lines, or at least one of them....

"Benthamism" was just Jeremy Bentham's personal take on positive utilitarianism... hardly any more ideal than anyone else's personalised grasp on a concept.... I would recommend you check Jeremy Bentham's wikipedia article for more details in that respect...
Better still... try this:
http://www.la.utexas.edu/research/poltheory/bentham/ipml/index.html

Then again, I never have been a fan of positive utilitarianism anyway. I'm somewhat of a negative utilitarian myself: set on removing that which causes the most harm to people as the primary importance.


And on a completely deviatory note.... I have had quite enough of Jeremy Bentham for one lifetime.... since I did a degree at University College London... just two floors above Jeremy Bentham's preserved skeleton....

Answer 2

Bentham was the founder of Utilitarianism. Difference might be because he followed a very simple 'hedonic calculus' whereas subsequent Utilitarians took it further with 'Ideal U' and 'Act U' etc

Answer 3

Try this url: http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/bentham.htm

I think you need to understand all of Bentham's works and would guess that utilitarianism and Benthamism are different to some degree.

Answer 4

I should think that Benthamism was utilitarianism put into practice. I reckon no one knows what we're talking about here, so I refer them to Charles Dickens' Hard Times.