Title

The Relevance of Utilitarianism

Author(s)

Marc Fleurbaey Marc Fleurbaey (Princeton University)

Philippe Monginy Philippe Monginy (CNRS & HEC Paris)

Abstract

Harsanyi invested his Aggregation Theorem and Impartial Observer Theorem with deep utilitarian sense, but Sen redescribed them as "representation theorems" with little ethical import. This negative view has gained wide acquiescence in economics. Against it, we support the utilitarian interpretation by a novel argument relative to the Aggregation Theorem. We suppose that a utilitarian observer evaluates non-risky alternatives by the sum of individual utilities and investigate his von Neumann-Morgenstern (VNM) preference on risky alternatives. Adding some technical assumptions to Harsanyi's, we conclude that (i) this observer would use the utility sum as a VNM utility function, and crucially, (ii) any social observer would evaluate both risky and non-risky alternatives in terms of a weighted utility sum. Hence, pace Sen, VNM theory can give some interesting support to utilitarianism. The argument is conveyed by means of three theorems that encapsulate Harsanyi's original one as a particular step.

Creation Date

2011-12

Section URL ID

ET

Paper Number

wp027_2011_Fleurbaey_Mongin.pdf

URL

http://detc.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp027_2011_Fleurbaey_Mongin.pdf

File Function

Jel

D63, D71, D81

Keyword(s)

Utilitarianism, Aggregation Theorem, Impartial Observer Theo- rem, cardinal utility, VNM utility, Harsanyi, Sen

Suppress

false

Series

10