Utilitarianism

UTILITARIANISM is a moral theory according to which an action is right if and only if it conforms to the principle of utility. Bentham formulated the principle of utility as part of such a theory in "Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation" in 1789.
An action conforms to the principle of utility if and only if its performance will be more productive of pleasure or happiness, or more preventive of pain or unhappiness, than any alternative. Instead of 'pleasure' and 'happiness' the word 'welfare' is also apt: the value of the consequences of an action is determined solely by the welfare of individuals.
A characteristic feature of Bentham's theory is the idea that the rightness of an action entirely depends on the value of its consequences. This is why the theory is also described as consequentialist.
Bentham's theory differs from certain other varieties of utilitarianism (or consequentialism) by its distinctive assumption that the standard of value is pleasure and the absence of pain; by being an act-utilitarian; and by its maximising assumption that an action is not right unless it tends towards the optimal outcome.

Bentham formulated the theory, but the term was coined by John Stuart Mill.

Education Victorian Style

Education was an extremely controversial issue in the Victorian Era. Some thought that education belonged in the church others believed that the responsibility of teaching the youth of England rested with the state. Then there were the people who did not want any kind of modern schooling at all for it would take away a form of very cheap labor. Victorians had a lot to learn but not many people could agree on what to learn or who to learn it from. And, while they were addressing these issues, society had to answer the question as to who could attend school. Should girls be allowed to attend, or just boys? Should workers' kids be allowed to go to school or not? How about the poor, should there be charity for their children to go to school and should they go to the same schools as the rich kids? All of these questions needed to be answered, however, it remains a mystery as to whether they ever were.
Education before 1870 was kept in the church and what was known as ragged schools. These were schools for very poor children and they were established as a result of necessity when it became apparent that such children were often excluded from existing schools because of their ragged clothing and appearance. Charles Dickens saw ragged schools as very unsatisfactory and quite jury-rigged: "at best, a slight and ineffectual palliative of an enormous evil. . .And what they can do, is so little, relatively to the gigantic proportions of the monster with which they have to grapple, that if their existence were to be accepted as a sufficient cause for leaving ill alone, we should hold it far better that they had never been."
Ragged schools were taught by volunteers who would teach the students the necessities to survive life in England. These schools were connected by the Ragged School Union which was very much like the modern day school board. They were forerunners of schools created by the 1870.

when, all children from five to thirteen had to attend school by law. In winter in the countryside, many children faced a teeth chattering walk to school of several miles. A large number didn’t turn up. Lessons lasted from 9am to 5pm, with a two hour lunch break. Because classes were so large, pupils all had to do the same thing at the same time. The teacher barked a command, and the children all opened their books. At the second command they began copying sentences from the blackboard. When pupils found their work boring, teachers found their pupils difficult to control.

The Detective Story

The detective story is a genre based on the detective investigation of a mysterious crime which leads the discovery of the criminal responsible. In fact the story ends when the investigation is carried off and the method and culprit are revealed.
A detective story has as its main interest the solving of a mystery, whose elements are clearly presented to the reader at the beginning of the story, and whose nature arouses a curiosity which is gratified at the end.
It’s also something called a “whodunit” (who done it) because its main aim is to involve the reader with the investigation.

Features of Detective Stories
The father of this genre, Edgar Allan Poe, created a sort of fixed formula which was adopted by later writers and is still used nowadays. This model includes some constant elements:
- an urban setting;
- a mysterious crime;
- the detective who carries out a professional investigation;
- sometimes, the detective’s companion who can also be the narrator of the story;
- a policeman who is usually unintelligent and rather unimaginative;
- the importance of reasoning, including hypotheses and final solution, and of psychological analysis
- the widespread suspicion
- the suspance
- the opposition between “to be” and “to seem”

The Birth of the Detective Story
The beginning of the detective story can be find to Poe’s “Tales of Ratiocination” [“The murders in the Rue Morgue” _ “The Mystery of Marie Roget” _ “The Purloined Letter”]. The date of the publication of the first of them is also the date of the birth of Fictional Stories (1841). Edgar Allan Poe is considered the father of this genre because he created the first important fictional detective, Monsieur Auguste Dupin, a noble and refined man whose method of investigation was based on deduction.
This eccentric figure was also the inspiration for the most famous detective of literature, like Hercule Poirot, invented by Agatha Christie; and Sherlock Holmes, character created by Arthur Conan Doyle, who adopted Poe’s formula and made the plots of his stories more sophisticated; for example although he kept the urban environment, he sometimes introduced some exotic elements.
In the United States the professional detective, a new kind of fictional detective, was born and the crimes were carried out and then solved in the big American city. One of the most famous was Philip Marlowe, character created by Raymond Chandler; another famous American fictional detective-lawyer was Perry Mason, created by Earle Stanley Gardner.

Golden Age Detective Stories
The period between the two world wars (1920-1940) is considered the Detective Stories’ best period; in fact many detective stories, which earn lots success, were written. The stories of Agatha Christie are an example.

The detective story starting from POE

Edgar Allan Poe is also acknowledged as the originator of detective fiction. Poe invented the term "Tale of Ratiocination"
The ratiocination, however, is not just for the detective; Poe does not allow the reader to sit back and merely observe; the process of ratiocination which he sets up is also intended for the reader, as well as for the detective. In fact, the story becomes one in which the reader must also accompany the detective toward the solution and apply his own powers of logic and deduction alongside those of the detective. This idea becomes very important in all subsequent works of detective fiction. That is, in all such fiction, all of the clues are available for the reader, as well as the detective, to solve the crime (usually murder), and at the end of the story, the reader should be able to look back on the clues and realize that he could have solved the mystery. A detective story in which the solution is suddenly revealed to the reader is considered bad form. Poe, then, introduces one of the basic elements of the detective story — the presentation of clues for his readers, and in addition to the above, Poe is also credited with introducing and developing many other of the standard features of modern detective fiction.

For example, M. Auguste Dupin is the forerunner of a long line of fictional detectives who are eccentric and brilliant. His unnamed friend, who is a devoted admirer of the detective's methods, is less brilliant but, at times, he is perhaps more rational and analytical than Dupin is. He never, however, has the flashes of genius that the detective exhibits; instead, he begins the tradition of the chronicler of the famous detective's exploits — that is, he mediates between reader and detective, presenting what information he has to the reader, while allowing the detective to keep certain information and interpretations to himself. This technique has since been employed by numerous writers of detective fiction, the most famous being the Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson combination.

Poe is clearly responsible for and should be given credit for giving literature these basics of the detective story as a foundation for an entirely new genre of fiction:
(1) the eccentric but brilliant amateur sleuth;
(2) the sidekick, or listener, or worker for the clever detective;
(3) the simple clues;
(4) the stupidity or ineptitude of the police;
(5) the resentment of the police for the amateur's interference;
(6) the simple but careful solution of the problem through logic and intuition.

(http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/Poe-s-Short-Stories-Summary-Analysis-and-Original-Text-Tales-Of-Ratiocination-Or-Detective-Fiction-Introduction-to-The-Murders-in-the-Rue-Morgue-and-The-Purloined-Letter-.id-145,pageNum-54.html)

Charls Darwin

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