UTILITARIANISM in a systemic perspective
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 3700 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Human sciences, Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
Utilitarianism is generally seen as an individualistic world view. However, if the individualistic view is irrestrictively adopted, it may easily lead to willful ignorance or negation of social utility. Such a view, in turn, easily leads to individual actions which directly or indirectly undermine the very conditions that permits individual utility itself. On the contrary, the ignorance of the competitiverole of the individuals leads to the impossibility to discover new behaviors , possibly valuable for the whole group or society.
Thus the systemic view should aim at a better harmony between the individuals (i.e. belonging to the parts) view and the systemic view (i.e. social, i.e. on the whole)
J. BRYANT debates these aspects (1991, p. 176-180, and 184). He enounces for ex. the following theorem: “A necessary and sufficient condition for the maximization of expected group utility is the free flow of information among members of that group”(1991, p. 177)
Curiously altruistic utilitarianism can be used in two different ways:
- closely practiced, as for ex. in mafias
- widely practiced, as through utopian ideologies
This shows the fuzzy character of this concept, and the need to avoid simplistic views.
See also
Behaviorism