Construct · 3 fields · 3 citations
One name. Different field. Different construct. One map.
● jingle · one word, three constructs Nearest construct by meaningrationalitycompare the meaningsEvery construct on the map is compared with every other by the meaning of its definitions, and the closest one is surfaced here. The nearest construct to utility is rationality.
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A numerical index of preference that a rational agent acts to maximise in expectation: when choices satisfy consistency axioms, a person's preferences over uncertain prospects can be represented by assigning a utility to each outcome and taking the probability-weighted average. von Neumann and Morgenstern's 1944 Theory of Games and Economic Behavior proved that agents whose preferences obey such axioms behave as if they maximise expected utility, fixing the number on an interval scale unique up to a positive linear transformation. The referent is a representation of one agent's preference under risk, defined only up to that rescaling, not a moral quantity to be summed across people, a small program on a computer, or a company that supplies water or power.[1]
The property of an action or rule of tending to produce happiness or to prevent suffering, taken as the standard of right conduct: in the utilitarian tradition an act is judged by the aggregate welfare it brings about, summed across all whom it affects. Bentham's 1789 An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation named the principle of utility as the foundation of morals and legislation, holding that the right action is the one that yields the greatest balance of pleasure over pain for the community. The referent is a moral quantity of well-being to be weighed and aggregated across persons, not an individual's preference index under risk, a system program, or a regulated supplier of a service.[2]
An enterprise that supplies an essential service such as water, gas, electricity, or telecommunication to the public, typically as a natural monopoly subject to economic regulation: because duplicating the network would waste resources, a single provider serves an area under rules that set the prices and the service it must offer. Bonbright's 1961 Principles of Public Utility Rates laid out how the rates such a provider may charge are set to let it recover its costs and earn a fair return while protecting captive customers. The referent is a regulated supplier of infrastructure service, measured by its rate base, allowed return, and service obligations, not a preference index, an aggregate of welfare, or a small program on a computer.[3]
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