ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to follow a distinction once alluded to by David Lyons between a logical and a psychological analysis of moral reasoning. The precise status of classical utilitarianism, and especially of Bentham, in this larger field is, however, difficult to ascertain. This history is frequently depicted in terms of a showdown between a Humean challenge to practical reason and a Kantian defence. Tully has called this aspect of the new paradigm 'juridical government'. The Kantian defence, as is well known, consists in the claim that there is a pure reason which is at the same time practical. Utility is 'the property in any object, whereby it tends to produce' these properties. The expression has a very wide range: all existing legal systems are customary, as none can claim to be fully in keeping with the Benthamic guidelines for utilitarian legislation.
