Un manuscrit inédit de Bentham en français, les Délits religieux

Résumé En

This edition of Bentham's French manuscript entitled "Délits Religieux" is the product of a joint research project conducted by the Bentham Project and the Centre Bentham on the material held at University College London (Box 98, f.64-117). It is part of a larger body of texts in French intended to make up a "Project of a complete body of laws for any state" to which Bentham devoted a large amount of work between 1783 and 1787. The text was taken up and rewritten by Etienne Dumont, but eventually not published. This short introduction to the text presents the editorial method followed in the ordering and editing of the manuscripts. It concludes with a short summary of each section. The main headings are as follow: "Introduction" (a presentation of what Bentham calls 'cacotheism', that is to say pernicious religious doctrines); "Subornation of offences"; "Subornation of asceticism"; Dogmas announcing "undue forgiveness", "undue punishments" and "undue rewards"; "Frivolous" and "Absurd" dogmas; "Atheism"; "Agathotheism"; "Impossibility to conciliate theism to utility as well as truth". A longer summary in English and some translated sections are available on request from the editor.