An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation

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Description
The following sheets were, as the note on the opposité page expresses, printed so long ago as the year 1780. The design, in pursuance of which they were written,. was pot so extensive as that announced by the present title. They had at that time no other destination than that of serving as an introduction to a plan of a penal code in terminis, designed to follow them, in the same volume. The body of the work had received its completion according to the then present extent of the author's views, when, in the investigation of some flaws he had discovered, he found himself unexpectedly entangled in an unsuspected corner of the metaphysical maze. A suspension, at first not apprehended to be more than a temporary one, necessarily ensued: suspension brought on ooolness, and coolness, aided by other concurrent causes, ripened into disgust. Imperfections pervading the whole mass had already been pointed out by the sincerity of severe and discerning friends; and conscience had certified the justness of their censure. The inordinate length of some of the chapters, the apparent inutility of others, and the dry and metaphysical turn of the whole, suggested an apprehension, that, if published in its present form, the work would contend under great disadvantages for any chance, it might on other accounts possess, of being read, and consequently of being of use. But, though in this manner the idea of completing the present work slid insensibly aside, that was not by any means the case with the considerations which had led him to engage in it. Every opening, which promised to afford the lights he stood in need of, was still pursued: as occasion arose, the several departments connected with that in which he had at first en-
gaged, were successively explored; insomuch that, in one branch or other of the pursuit, his researches have nearly embraced the whole field of legislation.
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Contents
Chapter 1 : Of the principle of Utility
Chapter 2 : Of Principles Adverse to that of Utility
Chapter 3 : Of the Four Sanctions or Sources of Pain and Pleasure
Chapter 4 : Value of a Lot of Pleasure or Pain how to be Measured
Chapter 5 : Pleasures and Pains, their Kinds
Chapter 6 : Of Circumstances Influencing Sensibility
Chapter 7 : Of Human Action in General
Chapter 8 : Of Intentionality
Chapter 9 : Of Consciousness
Chapter 10 : Of Motives
Chapter 11 : Of Human Dispositions in General
Chapter 12 : Of the Consequences of a Mischievous Act
Chapter 13 : Cases Unmeet for Punishment
Chapter 14 : Of the Proportion between Punishments and Offences
Chapter 15 : Of the Properties to be given to a lot of Punishment
Chapter 16 : Division of Offences
Chapter 17 : Of the Limits of the Penal Branch of Jurisprudence

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Author Details
Jeremy Bentham, ESQ., M.A.,