Utility and Universality versus Utility and the General Good

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Utility and Universality versus Utility and the General Good

ABSTRACT: The concepts of Utility and Universality form an answer to the utilitarian topology of Utility and the General Good. Starting from the realization that utility cannot be determined materially, but only formally, the very premise of utilitarian philosophy has to be abandoned. The greatest good is not the good of the greatest number, but the universal good.

The concepts Utility and Universality form an answer to the utilitarian topology of Utility and the General Good. Starting from the realisation that utility cannot be determined materially, but only formally, the very premise of utilitarian philosophy has to be abandoned. The greatest good is not the good of the greatest number, the greatest good is the universal good. I will develop this thesis in the following contribution.

1. The good of the greatest number versus the universality of lack of contradiction

Since ancient times the concept of utility has been the catalyst between philosophy and economics. The question of the relationship between theory and practice has a special relevance to the issue. What is the effect of theoretical understanding on the material level? Which interrelationships does philosophy desire: should there be a renunciation of material wealth, or is it as Aristotle states, that without wealth there is no contentment?

What then is (economic) good? The answer often given today is to ensure that basic needs are met. For the Greek economic philosophers among whom, Socrates, Xenophon, Plato and Aristotle, provision of goods to meet basic hunger and thirst, was not the task the social thinkers were faced with. Instincts power the drive to meet the basic needs. Economics as a science has another purpose. Before a material answer can be arrived at, there has to be a rational determination of it's use. Only then can we speak of a free and self-determined action, and only then can we speak of a scientific purpose. Instead of simply fulfilling material needs, which is the purpose of all living beings, the basic purpose of economic science is to create a system by which material goods are properly divided/distributed and used. It is not a quantitative, but a qualitative goal. Science (Wissenschaft) is independent of the number of people by whom and on whom it is practised. The philosophers of antiquity compared the good economist with the good doctor: like the doctor, the economist is only in part acting to benefit or enrich himself.

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