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From moral welfarism to technical non-welfarism : A step back to Bentham’s felicific calculus of its members

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A. Baujard(CREM - CNRS)

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Abstract

A focus on the information used in Bentham’s felicific calculus sheds new light on the contemporary debate in normative economics opposing non-welfarism to welfarism. As a utilitarian, Bentham is de facto welfarist on a moral sense. Unexpectedly, this study shows Bentham resorts to non-welfarist information in his calculus. Thus, technical non-welfarism is coherent with moral welfarism, and even, the former proves necessary not to betray utilitarian principles. To sustain this claim, we challenge a view opposing a “cardinal” to an “ordinal” calculus: these two calculi constitute different stages of a unique calculus; because of operational constraints, Bentham is bound to rely on proxies, hence on non-utility information.

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Paper provided by Center for Research in Economics and Management (CREM), University of Rennes 1, University of Caen and CNRS in its series Economics Working Paper Archive (University of Rennes 1 & University of Caen) with number 200606.

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Date of creation: 2006
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Handle: RePEc:tut:cremwp:200606

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Related research
Keywords: Bentham; individual utility; utility calculus; utilitarianism; welfarism; non-welfarism; social welfare; technical welfarism; moral welfarism.;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
B12 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Classical (includes Adam Smith)
B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals
D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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  1. Sen, Amartya K, 1979. "Personal Utilities and Public Judgements: Or What's Wrong with Welfare Economics?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 89(355), pages 537-58, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Sen, Amartya, 1970. "The Impossibility of a Paretian Liberal," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(1), pages 152-57, Jan.-Feb.. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Kelsey, David, 1987. "The Role of Information in Social Welfare Judgements," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 39(2), pages 301-17, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Mongin, P & d'Aspremont, C, 1996. "Utility Theory and Ethics," Papers 9632, Paris X - Nanterre, U.F.R. de Sc. Ec. Gest. Maths Infor..
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  5. Holtug, Nils, 2003. "Welfarism ? The Very Idea," Utilitas, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(02), pages 151-174, July. [Downloadable!]
  6. André Lapidus & Nathalie Sigot, 2000. "Individual Utility in a Context of Asymetric Sensitivity to Pleasure and Pain: An Interpretation of Bentham’s Felicific Calculus," Post-Print hal-00344899_v1, HAL. [Downloadable!]
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  7. d'Aspremont, Claude & Gevers, Louis, 2002. "Social welfare functionals and interpersonal comparability," Handbook of Social Choice and Welfare, in: K. J. Arrow & A. K. Sen & K. Suzumura (ed.), Handbook of Social Choice and Welfare, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 10, pages 459-541 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. André Lapidus, 1996. "Introduction à une Histoire de la pensée économique qui ne verra jamais le jour," Post-Print hal-00344936_v1, HAL. [Downloadable!]
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