The present volume contains three essays, 'Of Sexual Irregularities', 'Sextus', and 'General Idea of Not Paul, but Jesus', written in the mid-1810s but never before been published in authoritative form. Bentham presents the utilitarian case for sexual liberty on the grounds that the gratification of the sexual appetite constituted the purest form of pleasure, in opposition to the traditional Christian view that the only morally acceptable form of sexual activity was between one man and one woman, within the confines of marriage, for the purpose of procreation. Bentham offers classical Greece...

In the mid-1780s Bentham drafted his first sustained discussions of political economy and public finance for Projet Matiere (itself part of Projet d'un corps de loix complet). Those discussions are now lost, but the corresponding marginal contents open this volume, followed by three closely related appendices. The volume continues with Defence of Usury, first published 1787, which was well received, quickly translated, and established some reputation for Bentham in political economy. In 1790, while preparing a second edition, Bentham drafted the raft of additional materials included here in...