Deconstructive Tendencies in Bentham's Philosophy of Language: Reading the (per)Happiness in Felicific Calculus

Shapiro, Carolyn ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2987-8111 (2016) Deconstructive Tendencies in Bentham's Philosophy of Language: Reading the (per)Happiness in Felicific Calculus. In: The Bentham Project Seminar Series, 11 March 2016, Faculty of Laws, University College London. (Submitted)

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Abstract / Summary

I was invited to teach a seminar at University College London's Faculty of Laws which examined the philosophy of Jeremy Bentham in light of Deconstruction. Bentham's brand of Utilitarianism, with its "Felicific Calculus," bears similar deconstructive tendencies as put forward in the work of Jacques Derrida. Bentham is part of a genealogy of philosophers of language which theorise language as operative, rather than representative. His Felicific Calculus forms the material starting point for a deconstructive approach to language and the role of felicity or happiness in characterising the efficacy of language. Here, I look at the notion of *per*happiness as it plays out in Bentham's early deconstruction of philosophy. The Bentham Project invites a series of guest speakers every year to teach about new readings of Bentham's philosophy.

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