Jeremy Bentham

Bentham held that nature has placed us under two masters, pleasure and pain, and that the right action is simply the one that produces the most happiness for the most people. From this single principle he set out to rebuild law, punishment, prisons, and government on rational lines, drafting reforms with tireless precision. His design for a prison, the Panopticon, where one unseen watcher might observe all, became a lasting image of modern power. He left his body to be dissected and displayed, an auto-icon still kept in London — a final, characteristic gesture of utility over sentiment. His utilitarianism shaped the modern world's idea of the public good.