The Problem with Utility: Toward a Non-Consequentialist/Utility Theory Synthesis

Lanse Minkler ()

Review of Social Economy, 1999, vol. 57, issue 1, 4-24

Abstract: I develop the argument that our current decision-making framework, utility theory, when used by itself, is 1) descriptively incomplete, 2) theoretically flawed, and 3) ethically questionable. In response, I offer an exploratory framework that incorporates both consequentialist and non-consequentialist motivations. Adding a commitment function provides a synthesis which remedies the problems associated with the sole use of utility theory. Finally, I show how philosophers Immanuel Kant, W.D. Ross, and Martin Buber provide an ethical basis for the framework.

Keywords: Utility; commitment; duty; consequentialism; non-consequentialism; ethics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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DOI: 10.1080/00346769900000024

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