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Bentham Mocks The Declarations: ‘Every Law … Is Void', Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Jeremy Bentham famously savaged American declarations of rights, beginning with the Declaration of Independence. What irked him? If individuals had rights that government was bound to honor, then philosophy was obligated to address the conflict between the two. Settle it? Too ambitious. Ignore it? Too lazy. The consequences of Bentham’s unwillingness to survey American constitutions and legislation (using his own tools) are surveyed.