The Legacy of Smith and Bentham
Very critical of the Physiocrats, Say affirms that political economy did not exist before Adam Smith. It is true that predecessors advanced true propositions, but Smith was the first to show why they were true.
Smith’s merit is to have applied the scientific method to political economy, “starting from observed facts and deducing the general laws, of which they are the consequences” (Say 1814 [2006]: 34). French liberals - particularlyGermaine de Stael and Benjamin Constant - had a critical attitude towards utilitarianism (Faccarello and Steiner 2008: 34-46). Say (1833 [2003]: 133), instead, praises Bentham. He interprets him stating that the best way for an individual to look after his or her “interest well understood” is to adhere to the principle of utility, to evaluate his or her interests for such things with the utility they have for human beings, that is, for the greatest good for the greatest number. He relies on this principle when he states that public utility - and not the consent of the majority - is the rational foundation of the activity of the state.