IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ajecsc/v64y2005i3p851-879.html

From Cardinal to Ordinal Utility Theory

Author

Listed:
  • Sandra J. Peart
  • David M. Levy

Abstract

. This paper examines the transition from cardinal to ordinal utility. We begin with the egalitarian utilitarianism of J. S. Mill and Herbert Spencer, in which everyone was supposed to count as one. That is their phrase to explain how the happiness of existing people was to be maximized. We compare Spencer's goal with Darwin's goal of the “general good,” in which the number of perfect people was to be maximized. Spencer's goal was egalitarian, while Darwin's entailed biological perfection or hierarchy. We consider Edgeworth's hedonic calculus, in which the notion of hierarchy enters economics. For Edgeworth, agents have differential capacities for happiness. Throughout, we consider normative aspects of Darwin's work, in particular Darwin's challenge to the early utilitarianism of Mill and Spencer. We suggest that the Paretian principle returns utilitarianism to its egalitarian roots.

Suggested Citation

  • Sandra J. Peart & David M. Levy, 2005. "From Cardinal to Ordinal Utility Theory," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 851-879, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:64:y:2005:i:3:p:851-879
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2005.00394.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1536-7150.2005.00394.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1536-7150.2005.00394.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fontaine, Philippe, 1997. "Identification and Economic Behavior Sympathy and Empathy in Historical Perspective," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 261-280, October.
    2. Robbins, Lionel [Lord], 1981. "Economics and Political Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(2), pages 1-10, May.
    3. David Levy, 1978. "Some Normative Aspects of the Malthusian Controversy," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 10(2), pages 271-285, Summer.
    4. Lord Robbins, 1968. "The Theory of Economic Development in the History of Economic Thought," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-00149-1, December.
    5. Lord Robbins, 1971. "Autobiography of an Economist," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-01164-3, December.
    6. Levy, David M. & Peart, Sandra J., 2004. "Statistical prejudice: from eugenics to immigrants," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 5-22, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tomoyuki Uemiya, 2008. "F.Y. Edgeworth’s Mathematical Psychics and his Utilitarianism: The Derivation from the ‘Sidgwick-Barratt Controversy’," Discussion Paper Series 37, School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University, revised Mar 2008.
    2. Mark M. Smith, 2005. "Finding Deficiency," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 887-900, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thiago Dumont Oliveira & Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak, 2016. "Lionel Robbins’ first-step individualism and the prehistory of microfoundations," Textos para Discussão Cedeplar-UFMG 537, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
    2. Sandra J. Peart & David M. Levy, 2005. "A discipline without sympathy: the happiness of the majority and its demise," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(3), pages 937-954, August.
    3. Colander, David, 2009. "What Was “It” That Robbins Was Defining?," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(4), pages 437-448, December.
    4. E. Pasour, 1983. "A limited defense of Pareto optimal redistribution: Comment," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 451-454, January.
    5. Juan Carlos De Pablo, 2001. "Ideas, intereses y valores," CEMA Working Papers: Serie Documentos de Trabajo. 196, Universidad del CEMA.
    6. Fontaine, Philippe, 2023. "Smith At 300: Smith On Empathy And Sympathy," SocArXiv s3be2, Center for Open Science.
    7. Daniel W. Bromley, 1982. "Land and Water Problems: An Institutional Perspective," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 64(5), pages 834-844.
    8. Walter Block & William Barnett II, 2007. "On Laidler regarding the Austrian business cycle theory," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 20(1), pages 43-61, March.
    9. David Colander, 2018. "How Economists Got It Wrong: A Nuanced Account," Chapters, in: How Economics Should Be Done, chapter 12, pages 163-189, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Laurie Bréban, 2018. "An Investigation into the Smithian System of Sympathy: from Cognition to Emotion," Post-Print hal-03904227, HAL.
    11. repec:osf:socarx:s3be2_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Thomas M. Humphrey, 1982. "Of Hume, Thornton, the quantity theory, and the Phillips curve," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, vol. 68(Nov), pages 13-18.
    13. Juan Carlos de Pablo, 2009. "¿Qué significa ser economista en argentina?," CEMA Working Papers: Serie Documentos de Trabajo. 410, Universidad del CEMA.
    14. Rafael Galvão de Almeida, 2020. "Comment on 'The Empirical Success of Keynesianism' by Donald Gillies," Economic Thought, World Economics Association, vol. 9(1), pages 44-47, July.
    15. Levy, David M. & Peart, Sandra J. & Farrant, Andrew, 2005. "The spatial politics of F.A. Hayek's Road to Serfdom," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 982-999, December.
    16. Laurie Bréban & Muriel Gilardone, 2019. "A missing touch of Adam Smith in Amartya Sen’s account of Public Reasoning: the Man Within for the Man Without," Economics Working Paper from Condorcet Center for political Economy at CREM-CNRS 2019-01-ccr, Condorcet Center for political Economy.
    17. Philippe Fontaine, 2000. "Making use of the past: theorists and historians on the economics of altruism," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(3), pages 407-422.
    18. Stephen Martin, 2019. "The Kaldor–Hicks Potential Compensation Principle and the Constant Marginal Utility of Income," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 55(3), pages 493-513, November.
    19. Brigitte Granville & Judith Shapiro, 2008. "Scratch a Would-Be Planner: Robbins, Neoclassical Economics and the End of Socialism," Working Papers 11, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.
    20. Michele Bee & Luiz Felipe Bruzzi Curi, 2024. "Agreement is money: Beyond the chartalist reading of Adam Smith," Textos para Discussão Cedeplar-UFMG 666, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
    21. G. John Ikenberry, 1993. "The Political Origins of Bretton Woods," NBER Chapters, in: A Retrospective on the Bretton Woods System: Lessons for International Monetary Reform, pages 155-198, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:64:y:2005:i:3:p:851-879. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0002-9246 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.