Economic utility is the basic calculation of economics—its foundation. Utility is the measure of the happiness/gratification/satisfaction one derives from consuming goods or services. In utilitarian terms, the goal or aim of economics and society, was to produce the greatest utility (happiness) for the greatest number. For neo-classical economists, this measure of happiness has been replaced by rational self-interest—where firms/individuals maximize their rational profits/self-interests/needs.
The last century has clearly been one of maximizing utility. More liberal-minded persons stick to the old Bentham utility of greatest happiness for all as the aim of society; more conservative-minded persons propose that the aim of society is to maximize profits/self-interest, and in doing so, society will work the most efficiently. And ultra-liberals and conservatives, socialists and libertarians, all work under this utility-based assumption (albeit from different perspectives on how to best maximize utility). Clearly by repositioning our society towards maximizing utility, the industrialized world has been enormously successful in producing wealth, and creating unheard of material well-being.
Yet, there have been very real externalities created by our total acceptance of a utility-based world. If one accepts the leftward leaning utilitarianism, one has accepted nothing more than egalitarian hedonism. If one accepts rightward leaning neo-classicism, one has accepted nothing more than profit-maximizing individualism, or, greed.
Today, we see around the industrialized world, the results of both forms of utility: of the live-to-be-happy hedonism of the masses and the media—of marketing and advertising, politics, the news, entertainment, even the arts; or the individual self-interest of the economic man/businessman, the drive towards wealth, freedom from any obstacles to accumulating such—government intervention, competition from competitors, taxes, etc—and the resulting supra-individualism such a philosophy implicitly creates.
Moreover, the drive for greater utility for businesses, individuals, the government, and thus society, is improved most efficiently, by advancement in technology—new computers, programs, phones, transportation, toasters, no stick grills, and so forth. We increasingly look for technology to better our lives, to increase our happiness/profit, to solve our real societal problems. Morality, spirituality, duty, community, history, civic responsibility, art, theoretical philosophy and science, anything that has no practical or substantive utility, has been cast aside, or made less and less important. We no longer look at the underlying problems of society; rather we look for some new scientific breakthrough or advance to solve all of our problems.
I thus ask, is utility the best foundation for society? And is it sustainable? Or does it create too many negative externalities?
The last century has clearly been one of maximizing utility. More liberal-minded persons stick to the old Bentham utility of greatest happiness for all as the aim of society; more conservative-minded persons propose that the aim of society is to maximize profits/self-interest, and in doing so, society will work the most efficiently. And ultra-liberals and conservatives, socialists and libertarians, all work under this utility-based assumption (albeit from different perspectives on how to best maximize utility). Clearly by repositioning our society towards maximizing utility, the industrialized world has been enormously successful in producing wealth, and creating unheard of material well-being.
Yet, there have been very real externalities created by our total acceptance of a utility-based world. If one accepts the leftward leaning utilitarianism, one has accepted nothing more than egalitarian hedonism. If one accepts rightward leaning neo-classicism, one has accepted nothing more than profit-maximizing individualism, or, greed.
Today, we see around the industrialized world, the results of both forms of utility: of the live-to-be-happy hedonism of the masses and the media—of marketing and advertising, politics, the news, entertainment, even the arts; or the individual self-interest of the economic man/businessman, the drive towards wealth, freedom from any obstacles to accumulating such—government intervention, competition from competitors, taxes, etc—and the resulting supra-individualism such a philosophy implicitly creates.
Moreover, the drive for greater utility for businesses, individuals, the government, and thus society, is improved most efficiently, by advancement in technology—new computers, programs, phones, transportation, toasters, no stick grills, and so forth. We increasingly look for technology to better our lives, to increase our happiness/profit, to solve our real societal problems. Morality, spirituality, duty, community, history, civic responsibility, art, theoretical philosophy and science, anything that has no practical or substantive utility, has been cast aside, or made less and less important. We no longer look at the underlying problems of society; rather we look for some new scientific breakthrough or advance to solve all of our problems.
I thus ask, is utility the best foundation for society? And is it sustainable? Or does it create too many negative externalities?
