Using and Analysing Images to Investigate Childhood and Youth
from December 12, 2024 to December 13, 2024
Published on November 6, 2024– Updated on November 6, 2024
Utilitarianism Debated (1820-1880)
Venue: ENS de Lyon - Site Monod/Descartes, Lyon
International conference coordinated by Emmanuelle de Champs, CY AGORA laboratory
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At the turn of the nineteenth century, both Leslie Stephen in England and Elie Halévy in France agreed that utilitarianism was one of the main intellectual pillars of the century of the industrial revolution.
However, utilitarianism, or, to use Bentham’s preferred phrase, “the greatest happiness principle” was continuously contested throughout Europe. Through the periodical press and pamphlets, these debates shaped the way in which contemporaries envisioned modernity as well as the philosophical and moral foundations of the industrial era.
This international and interdisciplinary conference will study utilitarianism within European public debates in the middle of the nineteenth century and show how it was defended, illustrated and contested in Britain and beyond. Debates around utilitarianism were contemporaneous with the construction of academic disciplines and impacted them in a way that has been little studied. For this reason, taking utilitarianism seriously implies to take a closer look at the genesis of liberal and socialist doctrines.
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