Abraham Tucker

Abraham Tucker 1705-74, English philosopher, b. London. He studied law at Merton College, Oxford, and later devoted himself to independent study. He advanced the ethical view that each man seeks his own interests and that the will of God blends these into a public good. This position is similar to that of the subsequent utilitarianism. Tucker's major work, The Light of Nature Pursued (7 vol., 1768-78), was published in part under the pseudonym Edward Search.

Tucker, Abraham (1705–74), one of the first writers of the utilitarian school of philosophy. In his great work The Light of Nature Pursued (6 vols, 1768–78) he rejects the moral sense theory of Shaftesbury and Hutcheson and finds the criterion of moral conduct in general happiness, and the motive of the individual in his own happiness. There comes a point where virtue requires a self-sacrifice that prudential motives do not justify. Here Tucker finds the place for religion and its promise of a future life.