A New Approach to Utilitarianism

1.1 Utilitarian Theories This book is a monograph on moral philosophy and social philosophy, particularly the part of the philosophy of economics that is related to the general distribution problem. It presents a comprehensive ethical theory, together with an application of the theory to distributive justice. The viewpoint of this theory is utilitarian. However, this theory is different in some crucial points, as well as in minor details, from all existing forms of utilitarianism. Moral philosophy deals essentially with the moral judgment of actions, i. e., whether a moral action is right or wrong, good or bad. The judgment is usually based on a line of logical reasoning, which can be traced to a final reason called the justification or ultimate principle. An ethical theory is a self-consistent system built upon a basic, or ultimate, principle. An ultimate principle can never be rigorously proven, and is not unique. Different philosophers establish different ethical theories upon different principles. Therefore, in the history of development of moral philosophy, there have been a large number of ethical theories and schools. Even wi thin the same school having the same ultimate principle, different philosophers may have different versions of the theory, because of small variations in the interpretation of the ultimate principle or in the elaboration of the details.

Contenu

I: A Unified Utilitarian Theory.- 1 Introduction.- 1.1 Utilitarian Theories.- 1.2 A New Scientific Approach to Utilitarianism.- 1.3 Difficulties with Utilitarianism.- 1.4 Deduction and Statistics.- 1.5 The Importance of Normative Ethics.- 1.6 Moral Philosophy and Social Philosophy.- 1.7 The Scope of This Book.- 2 A Particular Interpretation of Utilitarianism.- 2.1 The Problem of Interpretation.- 2.2 Good and Right - Positive and Negative Duties.- 2.3 The Flexible Nature of Morality and a Classification of Situations of Action.- 2.4 Schism of Utilitarianism and Interpretation of the Ultimate Criterion.- 2.5 Implications of Flexibility and Reformulation of Utilitarianism.- 2.6 The Importance of Virtues.- 3 Basic Principles.- 3.1 Basic Principles.- 3.2 Prima Facie Nature.- 3.3 Strictness of Rules in Ethical Theories.- 3.4 The Principle of Utility.- 3.5 The Principle of Nature.- 3.6 Principle of Coexistence.- 4 A Theory of Value.- 4.1 Establishing a Theory of Value.- 4.2 The Problem of Determination of Utility and Value.- 4.3 Classification of Values.- 4.4 Clarification of Some Concepts Related to Utility.- 4.5 Definition of Utility.- 4.6 General Properties of Value.- 4.7 Comparison with Existing Theories of Value.- 4.8 On Right, Obligatory and Ought.- 5 Decision-Making and Moral Action.- 5.1 The Nature of Decision-Making.- 5.2 Applications of Decision-Making.- 5.3 Additive and Multiplicative Weights.- 5.4 Feeling of Moral Satisfaction as a Decisive Factor in Moral Decision-Making.- 5.5 Decision-Making under Conditions of Uncertainty.- 5.6 Utility and Utility Functions.- 5.7 Clarification of the Concepts of Value and Utility.- 5.8 A Mathematical Model for Moral Decision-Making.- 6 Moral Judgment and Justification.- 6.1 The Statistical Nature of Moral Judgment.- 6.2 Value of Moral Principle, Virtue, or Moral Rule.- 6.3 Value of Consequences of a Moral Action.- 6.4 Moral Value of the Feeling of Moral Satisfaction.- 6.5 Value of Motive or Intention.- 6.6 Value of a Moral Action.- 6.7 Value of a Person.- 6.8 Justification for Moral Judgment.- 6.9 On Mill's "Proof" of the Principle of Utility.- 6.10 An Answer to "Why Do We Take Moral Actions?".- 7 Comparisons with Other Theories.- 7.1 Comparison of the Unified Utilitarian Theory with Existing Forms of Utilitarianism.- 7.2 Brief Comparison of Utilitarianism and Deontologism.- 7.3 Defense of Utilitarianism Against Charges Raised by Rights-Theorists and Other Nonutilitarianism.- 7.4 Arguments Against Rights-Theory.- 7.5 Utilitarian Interpretation of Absolute Rights.- 8 Summary, Refutation of Objections, and a General View.- 8.1 Summary of the Unified Utilitarian Theory.- 8.2 Refutation of Objections to Utilitarianism.- 8.3 Compatibility of Utilitarianism with the Principle of Justice.- 8.4 A New Look at Moral Philosophy.- 8.5 Scientific Approach and Systems Theory.- II: A Utilitarian Theory of Distributive Justice.- 9 The General Distribution Problem and Distributive Justice.- 9.1 Various Distribution Problems.- 9.2 Income and Wealth.- 9.3 Freedom, Right, Conflict and Justice.- 9.4 Equality As a Crude Criterion for the Resolution of Conflict.- 9.5 Existing Views of Distributive Justice.- 9.6 A Utilitarian Theory of Distributive Justice.- 10 Maximization of Utility and the Objective Function.- 10.1 The Other Sense of Utility and Marginal Utility.- 10.2 Law of Diminishing Incremental Interest.- 10.3 Utility of Money Versus von Neumann-Morgenstern Utility.- 10.4 A General Utility Function.- 10.5 Interpersonal Comparisons of Utility.- 10.6 On Normalization and Terminal Utilities.- 10.7 On Recent Developments in Utility and Risk Theory.- 10.8 The Social Welfare Function as an Objective Function.- 11 The Constraint.- 11.1 Optimization and Constraint.- 11.2 Comments on Pareto Optimality as a Constraint.- 11.3 Comments on Rawls' Difference Principle.- 11.4 Constant Total Value as a Constraint.- 11.5 The Dynamic Nature of Distribution.- 11.6 Utilitarianism Is Not Indifferent to Distribution.- 12 Interpretation of Measures of Deviation From Ideal.- 12.1 The Impracticability of Redistribution.- 12.2 The Physical Significance of the Social Welfare Function.- 12.3 Discussion of Measures of Inequality or Deviation from Ideal.- 12.4 Relative Sensitivity and Symmetry.- 12.5 Dalton's Measure of Deviation.- 12.6 A Brief Comparison of Various Measures of Inequality.- 13 A Proposal of Contribution as a Pattern For Distribution.- 13.1 A Monistic View of the Pattern for Distribution.- 13.2 The Unsuitability of Canons of Equality and Supply-and-Demand.- 13.3 The Insufficiency of Canons of Ability, Effort and Need.- 13.4 Combination of the Canon of Social Utility with the Canon of Contribution.- 13.5 Consistence of Contribution with Ability, Effort, and Need.- 13.6 Equality of Opportunity.- 13.7 Equality of Interest.- 14 Comments on Free-Market, Libertarianism, Nozick and Rawls.- 14.1 Comments on the Laissez-Faire Free-Market Theory.- 14.2 Comments on Libertarianism.- 14.3 Comments on Robert Nozick's Entitlement Theory.- 14.4 General Comments on Rawl's Theory of Justice.- 15 Randomness and Distribution.- 15.1 Randomness in Life and Distribution.- 15.2 Mathematical Analysis of the Effect of Randomness on Distribution.- 15.3 Randomness Regarded as Unjust.- 15.4 Examples of Randomness.- 15.5 Government Regulation to Reduce Randomness.- 16 Income Tax, Social Welfare, Salary Systems and Private Property.- 16.1 Progressive Income Tax as a Measure for Redistribution.- 16.2 Social Welfare Systems.- 16.3 Salary As an Essential Income and as an Incentive for Productivity.- 16.4 Salary System as an Index of Distribution.- 16.5 The Justification for Private Property.- 16.6 Private Property as Capital.- 16.7 Family and Children.- 16.8 Grant, Charity, Gift and Inheritance.- 17 General Social Welfare Functions and an Overall Picture.- 17.1 Interpersonal Comparisons of Utility Revisited.- 17.2 Normalization of Utility Functions.- 17.3 Uniform Distribution as Ideal with Different Personal Welfare Functions.- 17.4 Nonuniform Distribution as Ideal with Similar Personal Welfare Function.- 17.5 An Overall Picture.