From separability to unweighted sum: a case for utilitarianism

Abstract

After reviewing the compelling case for separability (‘social welfare is a separable function of individual utilities’), an argument is advanced for utilitarianism (defined as ‘social welfare is the unweighted sum of individual utilities’). Basically, a compelling individualism-type axiom leads us to (social welfare as an) unweighted sum (of individual utilities), given separability.