Episode Details

This lecture discusses key ideas from the Utilitarian philosopher, Jeremy Bentham's work, Offenses Against Oneself, a posthumously published part of his Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. Here we examine some of the problems that arise out of punishing same-sex relationships using what Bentham calls the "political sanction", i.e. legislation and enforcement.. One of these, which Bentham thinks is a rather weak argument, is that this tends to make more people aware of the perceived offense and give them the idea that it must be pleasurable, since it is being punished. He also raises the likelihood of false or malicious prosecutions, which require only that someone make claims to have seen two men together, and views this as a significant problem. A third problem is that this also makes men liable to extortion or blackmail. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 1500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Purchase Bentham's Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation -amzn.to/2Z470Bq