The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought
Volume 16, Issue 3, Sep 2009
Pages 431-453
- DOI: 10.1080/09672560903101294
- Print ISSN: 0967-2567
- Online ISSN: 1469-5936
A return to Bentham's felicific calculus: From moral welfarism to technical non-welfarism
Abstract
This paper is a study of Bentham's felicific calculus. Challenging a view that contrasts ‘cardinal’ to ‘ordinal’ calculus, we show that these two forms of calculus constitute instead different phases of a single approach. Bentham sometimes has to rely upon proxy variables because of operational constraints, and consequently upon factors other than utility. As a utilitarian, Bentham is de facto welfarist from an ethical point of view. Surprisingly however, this study shows that Bentham resorts to non-welfare information in the actual application of his calculus. His approach reconciles non-welfarism from the technical standpoint with welfarism as a fundamental moral principle.