Enlightenment Philosophers Of The 18th Century

The Classical School grew from the work of “enlightenment philosophers of the 18th century”. Two of the most important thinkers in this field are Cesare Beccaria and it was developed futher by Jeremy Bentham. The Enlightenment period saw the first formal theorising involving crime and punishment and it sought out to identify the rational way to deliver justice. There was the longing to move away from the power of the state and focus on the individual rights of the people and freedoms in which punishment was proportionate to the severity of the crime. The 18th century saw the establishment of a new emerging class, known as the ‘new bourgeoisie’. Their aim was to free themselves from the strict regimes which were dominated by the monarchy,

He thought it should be a public matter, immediate and necessary. Beccaria wanted to reduce the barbarity of the 18th century punishment and with the industrial revolution there was an ever-growing need for a more formal regulated justice system. This was needed especially for the production and the exchange of goods. There was also the need for protection of property, the maintenance of production, the discipline of workers and the regulation of the growth in the urban areas in order to preserve order. Beccaria’s approach which involves the prevention of crime was based of three factors in particular. These were: certainty (how likely punishment was to occur), celerity (how quickly punishment is inflicted) and severity (how much ‘pain’ is inflicted). These results were to be manipulated appropriately in order to produce the best results. Beccaria believed that deterrence needed punishment to be certain. This put forward the idea that the more likely someone is to be punished for their actions, the less likely they are to commit crimes. How quickly punishment is carried out has a positive impact on the violation of the rules. The severity of the punishment must be significant enough to discourage the person from

The prisoners were to be monitored around the clock without knowing who was watching them or when they were being watched. However, Bentham did change the way in which prisoners were to be dealt with. This brought a positive change which allowed for more human and compassionate treatment of criminals. It was also the beginning of rehabilitation practices. The biggest benefit Bentham’s design had was that his panopticon concept could be put into practice in many social functions. These included: hospitals, schools and military barracks. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory which tells us that the right course of action is the one which increases the overall ‘good’ consequences of the action. Therefore it is a form of consequentialism, which details the meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome. Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill are the most influential contributors to this theory. Bentham described utilitarianism as “the greatest happiness of greatest felicity