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Hume's Concept of Utility

The concept of utility, as developed by David Hume in An Enquiry Concerning the Principals of Morals, is about the evolution of a general concept of justice, based on the relative equity that does (or should) exist between members of society. The concept of justice is only one facet that arises out of Hume's idea of utility. In short, what Hume is alluding to, is a kind of societal muscle that comes into use out of need, and becomes strong through use (Hume, 1983).

Hume starts with a very simple concept, the idea that justice as we have come to recognize it, is not a function of one person surviving in the wilderness, or even the relative fairness of whether one species does or does not survive. Justice rises out of a multiple need. When individuals contend over the relative fairness in time and space of the use of materials, commodities, or abstract human possessions, the concept of utility arises to somehow mediate the differences. In the roughest sense, the concept of utility is that which brings to mind the ability to utilize, or the need to process or use such an ability. As Hume puts it: "public utility is the sole origin of justice, and that reflections on the beneficial consequences of this virtue are the sole foundation of its merit" (Hume, 1983, p. 20).

Hume makes his point extremely clear by positing that a paradise of sorts, for all humankind would do away with the need for utility or justice. If no-one ever experienced need, then the human condition would never reflect need. If people always knew what they wanted, where they could get what they needed, and were never concerned about how available was their favorite drink, food, or transportation, then the need or utility to ameliorate differences would never exist. In essence, if humanity existed in a material state of grace, where the needs of one were the same as the needs of all, justice and utility, as Hume repeatedly puts it, would be "USELESS" (Hum...

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Hume's Concept of Utility. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 08:11, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1691780.html