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4 - The Secret Monitoring Plan

from Part II - Utilitarian Conduct of Conduct Introduction: Legal Norms, Extra-Legal Norms and Utilitarian Conduct

Anne Brunon-Ernst
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Summary

Legislation is a state of warfare: political mischief the enemy: the legislator is the commander: the moral and religious sanctions his allies: punishments and rewards … the forces he has under his command … direct legislation, a formal attack made with the main body of his forces in the open field: indirect legislation, a secret plan of connected and long-concerted operations, to be executed in the way of stratagem or petite-guerre.

[Le pouvoir] est bien toujours une manière d'agir sur un ou des sujets agissants, et ce tant qu'ils agissent ou qu'ils sont susceptibles d'agir. Une action sur des actions … L'exercice du pouvoir consiste à ‘conduire les conduites’ et à aménager la probabilité.

Introduction

The previous chapter has identified how Bentham and Foucault understood legal norms and punishment as shaping behaviour in a biopolitical world. Although Bentham is best known as a legal reformer, his main claim to glory belittles his overall achievement. Indeed Bentham sought to control individuals far beyond the reach of the law. Punishment meted out by the legal sanction is costly in terms of individual and aggregate pain. It should only be used when necessary and useful to curb behaviour generating more pain than pleasure. However, utilitarian social engineering does not stop when legal punishment is not needed. Bentham aims to control all human acts, even those that are not forbidden by criminal law.

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Utilitarian Biopolitics
Bentham, Foucault and Modern Power
 , pp. 67 - 86
Publisher: Pickering & Chatto
First published in: 2014

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