The French Revolution And The Creation Of Benthamism

This is the first study of how Genevan Etienne Dumont, and his traumatic experience of the French Revolution, shaped the reception and presentation of Benthamism and masked the true face of Jeremy Bentham, one of the architects of modern society who visualized a new world based on the values of transparency, accountability, and economy.

Review: 'A major contribution to our understanding of the historical origins of 'Benthamism' ... presents a bold challenge to the conventional wisdom that the Panopticon was an enormous failure, emphasizing the centrality of Bentham's efforts to give concrete form to the principles of his utilitarianism in the Panopticon, and locates in this one of the important sources of modernity.' - James E.

Crimmins, The University of Western Ontario. 'A wealth of insights ... cogently argued, and astonishingly fresh ... Bentham studies, The Question of the Panopticon, and even the status of utilitarianism, will never be the same again.' - Herminio Martins, St Antony's College, University of Oxford and University of Lisbon 'Historical tour de force that throws floods of light on early nineteenth-century liberalism and its political and cultural inheritance from the Enlightenment.' -- Michel Porret, University of Geneva 'no-one knows more about ! the creation of Benthamism ! his work will educate readers for decades to come.' -- Richard Whatmore, University of Sussex