Description:
Bentham and the Arts considers the skeptical challenge presented by Bentham's hedonistic utilitarianism to the existence of the aesthetic, as represented in the oft-quoted statement that, 'Prejudice apart, the game of push-pin is of equal value with the arts and sciences of music and poetry. If the game of push-pin furnish more pleasure, it is more valuable than either.' Ranging from poetry and sexual nonconformity to the auto-icon and public sculpture, from Hume, Kant, and de Staël to Freud and Michel Onfray, an excellent crew of contributors brings Jeremy Bentham out from the shadow cast by John Stuart Mill with much new to say on taste and politics.
Brief description: Philip Schofield is director of the Bentham Project, Faculty of Laws, University College London, and general editor of the new authoritative edition of The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham.
Review Quotes:
'...A milestone in scholarship on utilitarianism and art history... Not only made more enjoyable by the wide range of quality illustrations [but] most of all provides a revisionist and conclusive analysis of the field, and as such should be read by all.'
La Revue d'études benthamiennes