Plan of the Panopticon
Dec-2007
From The works of Jeremy Bentham vol. IV, 172-3, 1843 (originally 1791). “The Panopticon is a type of prison building designed by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the late eighteenth century. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) prisoners without the prisoners being able to tell if they are being observed or not, thus conveying a “sentiment of an invisible omniscience.” In his own words, Bentham described the Panopticon as “a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example.”” (Wikipedia). The image is in the Public Domain.