Classical Utilitarianism and the methodology of determinate choice, in economics and in ethics
Title:
Classical Utilitarianism and the methodology of determinate choice, in economics and in ethics
Author:
Warke, Tom
Appeared in:
Journal of economic methodology
Paging:
Volume 7 (2000) nr. 3 pages 373-394
Year:
2000-11-01
Contents:
This paper argues that modern economic theory is essentially utilitarian with one significant exception: its abandonment of a multi-dimensional conception of utility. The paper reviews three alternative methods by which utility can be portrayed as a one-dimensional, hence determinate, index of desire, while suggesting that none of them can command empirical support. A second theme of the paper is that classical utilitarianism, by denying the ontological existence of intrinsic worth, implies the coincidence of economic and ethical aggregate optimality: those choices that maximize the self-perceived happiness of rational agents are also the right choices. Non-utilitarian ethics, by contrast, attains determinate optima by means of an a priori designation of intrinsic worth. It is argued that most philosophers, following G. E. Moore, have missed the true issue that divides utilitarian and non-utilitarian ethics, for they have presumed that all ethical systems presuppose intrinsic worth.
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