Measurement Theory and the Foundations of Utilitarianism

John Weymark

No 507, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers from Vanderbilt University Department of Economics

Abstract: This article reconsiders the Harsanyi--Sen debate concerning whether Harsanyi is justified in interpreting his Aggregation and Impartial Observer Theorems as providing axiomatizations of utilitarianism. Sen's criticism and its formalization by Weymark are based on the claim that von Neumann--Morgenstern utility theory is ordinal, whereas Harsanyi's utilitarian conclusions require cardinal utility. Proposals for overcoming Sen's objection that appeal to formal measurement theory are considered. It is argued that one of these proposals due to Broome and Risse rightly points to a feature of expected utility theory that was ignored by Sen and Weymark, but that this proposal does not provide a normatively compelling justification for cardinal utility. The other proposal due to Broome is shown to make use of a strength of preference relation in addition to the axioms of expected utility theory.

Keywords: Expected utility; measurement theory; utilitarianism; Harsanyi; von Neumann; Morgenstern (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 D71 D81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hpe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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http://www.accessecon.com/pubs/VUECON/vu05-w07.pdf First version, 2005 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Measurement theory and the foundations of utilitarianism (2005)
Working Paper: Measurement Theory and the Foundations of Utilitarianism (2004)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:van:wpaper:0507

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