Jeremy Bentham "Between 1809 and 1823 Jeremy Bentham carried out an exhaustive examination of religion with the declared aim of extirpating religious beliefs, even the idea of religion itself, from the minds of men." Bentham suggested a procedure for estimating the moral status of any action, which he called the Hedonistic or felicific calculus. Utilitarianism was revised and expanded by Bentham's student John Stuart Mill. In Mill's hands, "Benthamism" became a major element in the liberal conception of state policy objectives. Bentham's critics have claimed that he undermined the foundation of a free society by rejecting natural rights. In his exposition of
Thought and Action impressions from "outside" of the mind, where the "outside" includes their own bodies. The historian Peter Gay wrote that "Thought and Action" is a "brilliant" and "lucid" contribution to the philosophy of action, and a subtle vindication of free will. The philosopher Roger Scruton, writing in "Sexual Desire" (1986), credited Hampshire with providing a seminal discussion of two contrasting outlooks on the future that can be called "predicting and deciding." The philosopher Anthony Quinton wrote that Hampshire's "systematic aim and fine mandarin prose were both unusual for an Oxford philosopher of the time." Thought and Action Thought and Action is