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asocialtheoremwastakentobethesamethingastoshowhowdifferencesofcharacterorconductcouldbeexplainedby’circumstance’——meaningby’circumstance’somethingnotgivenintheagenthimself。Wehave，however，nomorerightasgoodempiriciststoassertthantodenythatalldifferencecomesfrom’circumstance。’Ifwetake’man’asaconstantquantityinourspeculations，itrequiresatleastagreatmanyprecautionsbeforewecanassumethatourabstractentitycorrespondstoarealconcreteunit。Otherwisewehaveashortcuttoadoctrineof’equality。’Thetheoryof’therightsofman’laysdowntheformula，andassumesthatthefactswillcorrespond。
TheUtilitarianassumestheequalityoffact，andofcoursebringsoutanequallyabsoluteformula。’Equality，’insomesense，isintroducedbyasidewind，thoughnotexplicitlylaiddownasanaxiom。(104*)Thisunderlyingtendencymaypartlyexplainthecoincidenceofresults——thoughitwouldrequireagoodmanyqualificationsindetail；buthereIneedonlytakeBentham’smoreorlessunconsciousapplication。
Bentham’stacitassumption，infact，isthatthereisanaverage’man。’
Differentspecimensoftherace，indeed，mayvarywidelyaccordingtoage，sex，andsoforth；but，forpurposesoflegislation，hemayserveasaunit。
Wecanassumethathehasontheaveragecertainqualitiesfromwhichhisactionsinthemasscanbedeterminedwithsufficientaccuracy，andwearetemptedtoassumethattheyaremainlythequalitiesobvioustoaninhabitantofQueen’sSquarePlaceabouttheyear1800。MilldefendsBenthamagainstthechargethatheassumedhiscodestobegoodforallmeneverywhere。Tothat，saysMill，(105*)theessayuponthe’InfluenceofTimeandPlaceinMattersofLegislation’isacompleteanswer。YetMill(016*)admitsinthesamebreaththatBenthamomittedallreferenceto’nationalcharacter。’Infact，aswehaveseen，BenthamwasreadytolegislateforHindoostanaswellasforhisownparish；andtomakecodesnotonlyforEngland，Spain，andRussia，butforMorocco。TheEssaymentionedreallyexplainsthepoint。Benthamnotonlyadmittedbutassertedasenergeticallyasbecameanempiricist，thatwemustallowfor’circumstances’；andcircumstancesincludenotonlyclimateandsoforth，butthevaryingbeliefsandcustomsofthepeopleunderconsideration。Therealassumptionisthatallsuchcircumstancesaresuperficial，andcanbecontrolledandalteredindefinitelybythe’legislator。’TheMoor，theHindoo，andtheEnglishmanareallradicallyidentical；andthedifferenceswhichmustbetakenintoaccountforthemomentcanberemovedbyjudiciousmeans。WithoutpausingtoillustratethisfromtheEssay，Imayremarkthatformanypurposessuchanassumptionisjustifiableandguidesordinarycommonsense。Ifweaskwhatwouldbethebestconstitutionforacommercialcompany，orthebestplatformforapoliticalparty，wecanformafairguessbyarguingfromtheaverageofBenthamandhiscontemporaries——especiallyifweareshrewdattorneysorpoliticalwirepullers。Onlywearenotthereforeinapositiontotalkaboutthe’scienceofhumannature’ortodealwithproblemsof’sociology。’This，however，givesBentham’s’individualism’inasenseofthephrasealreadyexplained。Hestartsfromthe’ready-mademan，’anddeducesallinstitutionsorlegalarrangementsfromhisproperties。Ihavetriedtoshowhownaturallythisviewfellinwiththeordinarypoliticalconceptionsofthetime。Itshows，again，whyBenthamdisregardshistory。
Whenwehavesuchascience，empiricalorapriori，historyisatmostofsecondaryimportance。Wecandeduceallourmaximsofconductfromthemanhimselfasheisbeforeus。Historyonlyshowshowterriblyheblunderedinthepre-scientificperiod。Theblundersmaygiveusahinthereandthere。
Manwasessentiallythesameinthefirstandtheeighteenthcentury，andthedifferencesareduetotheclumsydeviceswhichhemadebyruleofthumb。
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