Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham was an English philosopher, jurist, and reformer, regarded as the founder of modern utilitarianism, which held that actions should be judged by their tendency to produce the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Educated at Queen's College, Oxford, and trained for the bar at Lincoln's Inn, he turned from legal practice to the systematic criticism and reform of law. He wrote on penal codes, economics, and political representation, and designed the Panopticon prison. His writings addressed suffrage, prison reform, and the decriminalization of homosexual acts. He influenced the founding circle of University College London, where his preserved "auto-icon" remains on display.