The attack on welfarism
The general approach of making no use of any information
about the social states other than that of personal welfares
generated in them may be called welfarism.
I would like to
argue that (i) welfarism as an approach to social decisions is very
restrictive, and (ii) when the information on personal welfare is
itself limited, it can be positively obnoxious.
Sen (1977) p. 1559
What are personal welfares (utilities)?
- A measure of pleasure vs. pain.
- A person's conception of her own well-being.
- A person's evaluation of a social state.
Question: Are Bergson-Samuelson and Arrow talking about the same thing?
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