Jeremy Bentham: The Principle of Utility.
Bentham was very smart his whole life. He taught himself how to read without teachers at a very young age. He kept up his high pace education when he entered Oxford University at the age of twelve. In his early years he was an advocate of enlightened despotism, but later favored democratic reform. Bentham is most known for being one of the founders of the principle of utilitarianism. The other major founder of this theory is John Stuart Mill. Utilitarianism is simply the idea of doing whatever promotes the greatest good.
Bentham was an opponent of natural law. He referred to natural law as nonsense on stilts. Bentham believed law was a command of a legislator. So, unless nature was a being issuing commands, one could not speak of natural laws. He believed that what is natural to humans is the inclinations of pain and pleasure.
In 1780 Bentham wrote the book An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. In this book he expressed a good amount of his ideas and theory. The biggest of these being the principle of utility which he spent sometime talking about in this book.
In it Bentham tells us that he believes nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. Their job is to point out what we ought to do as well as determine what we shall do. The standard of right and wrong and the chain of cause and effects are both fastened to their throne. The principle of utility recognizes this subjection, and assumes it for foundation of that system.
Bentham says the principle of utility is the principle that approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever, according to the tendency which it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness of the party whose interest is in question: or, what is the same thing in other words, to promote or to oppose that happiness.