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Word of the day: Benthamista
The english term for a follower of Jeremy Bentham is Benthamite, but in South America, where a Benthamite tried to assasinate Simon Bolivar they are known as Benthamistas. To my uneducated ear this deliciously seems to conflate guerrilla warfare (qv Sandinista) with utilitarianism.
1826 Times 8 Nov. 2/6 The Ghost of Miltiades came at night, And he stood by the bed of the Benthamite. 1829 J. STERLING Let. in Ess. & Tales (1848) I. p. xxix, It was the first help I had in getting out of the slough of Benthamism. 1829 MILL in Autobiogr. (1924) App. 301 Those who are ignorant enough to fancy that there is a Benthamite sect. Ibid., What are vulgarly considered to be the Benthamite doctrines. 1832
Benthamite n., an adherent of the Benthamic philosophy; a. = prec. Benthamry, a contemptuous appellation for ‘Benthamism.’
Let. 22 Oct. in Wks. XII. (1963) 128 You know our Benthamic Utilitarians. 1840 CARLYLE Heroes v. 271 Benthamism is an eyeless Heroism. 1865 M. ARNOLD Ess. Crit. (1875) Pref. 11 The British nation..has finally anchored itself..on Benthamism. a1866 J. GROTE Exam. Util. Philos. xv. 227 Benthamic utilitarianism. Ibid. xvi. 247 Benthamic despotism. 1840 CARLYLE Heroes ii. 119 Benthamee utility, virtue by Profit and Loss. a1852 MOORE Ghost of Miltiades 54 A parting kick to the Benthamite. 1882 Athenæum 15 Apr. 468/1 The too confident optimism of the Benthamites. Ibid. 28 Jan. 117/3 Summarizing and co-ordinating the work of the Benthamite circles. 1855 Ess. Intuit. Morals 149 note, Public Eudaimonism, however, as I have described it, is not Benthamry.
that's how it happened
9 years, check it, of haphazard links to stuff on the internet.
