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Whether prisons were designed as panopticons or not, they've probably
become that now with surveillance cameras. So have a lot of other places,
including city streets.
And, yes, I would agree that Bentham's maximize pleasure / minimize pain
concept does underly the theory of utility, but as I understand it, that theory
did not have much use in economics until somewhat later, when the marginalists
(e.g. Jevons) came along.
Ed
Ed Weick
577 Melbourne Ave.
Ottawa, ON, K2A
1W7
Canada
Phone (613) 728 4630
Fax (613)
728 9382
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, November 03, 2002 1:29
PM
Subject: RE: More on Betham
Prisons
were designed to be panopticon's. Each prisoner could be observed from a
central point.
Bentham's
ideas (I believe) underlie the utility curves that lie behind the demand
function.
arthur
I've done a little more reading on Bentham, and found that he was not
really an economist (whew!!). Rather, he was what you would call a
"moral philosopher" (is there such a thing as an "immoral
philosopher"?). As such he developed the concept that man seeks to
maximize his pleasure and minimize his pain, and is not in the least
altruistic - i.e., each individual thinks only of himself. This idea
became the bedrock of classical economics, which restated it as enlightened
self-interest and maximizing the satisfaction of wants (utility) at the
least possible cost.
Bentham was also the inventor of the "Panopticon", a type of prison
where all prisoners would be observable by (unseen) guards at all
times. He tried to peddle this idea to Catherine the Great in Russia,
but even she wouldn't buy it. Some time ago, in an attempt to educate
myself, I read the French philosopher Michel Foucault. I recall that
he compared the modern state to a panopticon.
Ed
Ed Weick
577 Melbourne Ave.
Ottawa, ON, K2A
1W7
Canada
Phone (613) 728 4630
Fax
(613) 728 9382
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