L’éducation à la sociabilité selon Jeremy Bentham

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to show by what means Bentham thought it possible to make men more sociable. He did not advocate self-sacrifice, but preferred to consider that men could be driven to carry out their moral duty by a better understanding of their own interest. Psychological egoism, which is the main hypothesis of his theory of motivation, leads him to view disinterestedness as impossible. Nonetheless, many people claim to be acting on altruistic grounds and invite others to do the same. For Bentham, this rhetoric is a manipulative device designed by cunning people to take advantage of others by encouraging them to self-sacrifice. But even if we always seek our own pleasure, this does not prevent us from taking a genuine interest in the fate of other human beings, through the pleasures and pains of sympathy. Our interests being thus tightly intertwined with that of our fellow-creatures, Bentham encourages us to be honest, cooperative, and even beneficient. It will be argued that this constant reference to self-interest is not necessarily a dangerous encouragement to selfishness, but can be part and parcel of an efficient educational strategy.