The chapter presents an extensive revision of the utilitarian assumptions that are implicit in economic science – in the socializing and statist version as well as in the liberal and individualist one.
The chapter presents an extensive revision of the utilitarian assumptions that are implicit in economic science – in the socializing and statist version as well as in the liberal and individualist one. According to Rosmini, this implicit utilitarian conception is not due to political economy as a science but to the philosophical influence of utilitarian theories suffered by many economists. The ... [Show full abstract] heart of the utilitarian influence in modern economic science lies, according to Rosmini, in the conception of human action as a behavior always oriented towards maximization of utility. The chapter presents Rosmini’s detailed description of three main different versions of utilitarianism – empiricist or sensist, sentimentalist and eudemonist – and also shows the consequences that these different versions of utilitarianism bring to the conception of society, law, politics and economic science.