Comprehension Practice

The vitality of any teaching, or historical movement, depends upon what it affirms rather than upon what it affirms rather than upon what it denies, and its survival and continued power will often mean that its positives are insufficiently regarded by opposing schools. The grand positives of Bentham were benevolence and veracity: the passion for the relief of man’s estate, and the passion for truth. Bent ham’s multifarious activities, pursued without abatement to the end of a long life, were inspired by a "dominant and all-comprehensive desire for the amelioration of human life"; they were inspired, too, by the belief that he had found the key to all moral truth. This institution, this custom, this code, this system of legislation-- does it promotes human happiness? Then it is sound. This theory, this creed, this moral teaching – does it rightly explain why virtue is admirable, or why duty is obligatory? The limitation of Bentham can be gauged by his dismissal of all poetry (and most religion) as "misrepresentation’; this is his negative side. But benevolence and veracity are Supreme Values, and if it falls to one of the deniers to be their special advocate, the believers must have long been drowsed. Bentham believes the Church teaches children insincerity by making them affirm what they cannot possibly understand or mean. They promise, for example, to fulfill the undertaking of their god---parents, that they will "renounce the devil and all his works, the pumps and vanity of this wicked world" etc. ‘The Devil" Bentham comments: " who or what is he, and how is it that he is renounced?" Has the child happened to have any dealings with him? Let the Archbishop of Canterbury tell us, and let him further explain how his own "works" are distinguished from the aforesaid "Pops and Vanity". What king, what Lords Temporal or Spiritual, have ever renounced them? (Basil Willey).