Http://fvergara.com/ Halevy.pdf

Francisco Vergara critiques Elie Halévy's book "The Growth of Philosophical Radicalism", arguing that Halévy misunderstood English utilitarian philosophers, particularly their concept of the "principle of utility". Halévy took the principle as a psychological law explaining human behavior, where people naturally incline towards pleasure and flee from pain, and believed it to be the foundation of utilitarianism. However, Vergara contends that this is a fundamental mistake, as no utilitarian philosopher has ever given this name to this psychological law. Vergara also argues that Halévy's understanding of utilitarianism as a vast system unified by the single law of behavior, where man constantly seeks pleasure, is incorrect. Instead, Vergara suggests that British utilitarians, such as Bentham, Mill, and Sidgwick, had a more nuanced understanding of the principle of utility, which was not solely a descriptive theory, but also a normative statement expressing what we ought to do.