Ophelimity is an economic concept introduced by
Vilfredo Pareto
Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto ( , , , ; born Wilfried Fritz Pareto; 15 July 1848 – 19 August 1923) was an Italian polymath (civil engineer, sociologist, economist, political scientist, and philosopher). He made several important contribut ...
as a measure of purely economic satisfaction, so he could use the already well-established term
utility
As a topic of economics, utility is used to model worth or value. Its usage has evolved significantly over time. The term was introduced initially as a measure of pleasure or happiness as part of the theory of utilitarianism by moral philosopher ...
as a measure of a more broadly based satisfaction encompassing other dimensions as well, such as the ethical, moral, religious, and political. As such, it corresponds to the sense in which utility is often used in economic calculations.
Irving Fisher
Irving Fisher (February 27, 1867 – April 29, 1947) was an American economist, statistician, inventor, eugenicist and progressive social campaigner. He was one of the earliest American neoclassical economists, though his later work on debt def ...
proposed replacing ophelimity (and thus utility as it is commonly construed) with the term ''wantability''.
See also
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Autotelic
An autotelic is someone or something that has a purpose in, and not apart from, itself.
Origin
The word "autotelic" derives from the Greek ''αὐτοτελής'' (''autotelēs''), formed from ''αὐτός'' (''autos'', "self") and ''τέλος ...
, another term for whether a thing has useful contingency (purpose through specific utility) or is an ends with purpose unto itself.
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Social preferences Social preferences describe the human tendency to not only care about one's own material payoff, but also the reference group's payoff or/and the intention that leads to the payoff. Social preferences are studied extensively in behavioral and experi ...
References
Further reading
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Utility
Vilfredo Pareto
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