Concept
Utility
Overview
In economics, utility is a measure of a certain person's satisfaction from a certain state of the world. Over time, the term has been used with at least two meanings.
In a normative context, utility refers to a goal or objective that we wish to maximize, i.e., an objective function. This kind of utility bears a closer resemblance to the original utilitarian concept, developed by moral philosophers such as Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.
In a descriptive context, the term refers to an apparent objective function; such a function is revealed by a person's behavior, and specifically by their preferences over lotteries, which can be any quantified choice.
The relationship between these two kinds of utility functions has been a source of controversy among both economists and ethicists, with most maintaining that the two are distinct but generally related.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
In the original texts
Passages from public-domain books where Utility is discussed.
We are continually informed that Utility is an uncertain standard, which every different person interprets differently, and that there is no safety but in the immutable, ineffaceable, and unmistakeable dictates of Justice, which carry their evidence in themselves, and are independent of the fluctuations of opinion. One would suppose from this that on questions of justice there could be no controversy; that if we…
John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism
a chapter is titled for it; states what it is; names the idea; author linked in the graph; opens on it
Utility is nothing more than true happiness; to be useful is to be virtuous; to be virtuous is to make others happy. The happiness which man derives from them is the invariable, the necessary standard of his sentiments, for the beings of his species; for the objects he desires; for the opinions he embrases; for those actions on which…
Paul Henri Thiry Holbach, The System of Nature, or, the Laws of the Moral and Physical World. Volume 1
names the idea; states what it is
For there are some causes which of themselves produce results, and some which only contribute to the production of a result. Therefore, the first are called efficient causes; and the last are classed as such, that without them a thing cannot be brought about. Again, of efficient causes, some are complete and perfect in themselves; some are accessory to, and, as it were, partners in the production of the result in…
Marcus Tullius Cicero, The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 4
states what it is; names the idea; opens on it
Nevertheless the isolation of these studies from practical application, their reduction to purely symbolic devices, represents a survival of the idea of a liberal training divorced from utility. A thorough adoption of the idea of utility would have led to instruction which tied up the studies to situations in which they were directly needed and where they were rendered immediately and not remotely helpful. It would…
John Dewey, Democracy and Education
names the idea; states what it is
"Utility" in respect of the acceleration of the speed of evolution, is a different kind of "utility" from that which is understood to mean the greatest possible stability and staying power of the evolved creature. "Useful" in the sense of Darwinian biology means: that which favours a thing in its struggle with others.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Will to Power
names the idea; states what it is; opens on it
Philosophers who discussed Utility
Related ideas
- Belief
- Game theory
- John Stuart Mill
- John von Neumann
- Duty
- Function (mathematics)
- Fitness (biology)
- Real number
- Paul Samuelson
- Ontology
- Testability
- Utilitarianism
- Welfare economics
- Jeremy Bentham
- Joan Robinson
- Economics
- Ethics
- Evolutionary psychology
- Hans Albert
Opposing perspectives
Place in the tradition
Part of British philosophy.