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Primary sourceBook1825

The Rationale of Reward

Jeremy Bentham · 1825

Bentham's companion work to his writings on punishment, examining how rewards can be used as incentives.

Bentham's own manuscripts form the basis of this book, making it a primary record of his theory of reward.

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The Rationale of Reward
Jeremy Bentham, The Rationale of Reward, London, 1825. Scanned copy, Internet Archive.

About this source

What it is

This is a book by Jeremy Bentham, published in London in 1825 under the title The Rationale of Reward. According to its editor's note, it was compiled from manuscripts Bentham wrote decades earlier, in French and English, which had been given to the editor M. Dumont.

Why it matters

The book shows Bentham's systematic approach to human motivation, pairing his ideas on punishment with ideas on reward. It also reveals how his unpublished manuscripts were later edited and compiled by others, including Dumont, who shaped how Bentham's ideas reached European readers.

Look closer

  • What does the editor's note tell you about how this book came together from older manuscripts?
  • Why might Bentham have written about reward as well as punishment?
  • What role did other people, like Dumont, play in bringing Bentham's ideas to print?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Jeremy Bentham on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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