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Philosophy of Sciences

2023 year, number 3

APPROACHES TO THE DEFINITION OF THE CONCEPT OF UTILITY (METAPHYSICAL, SCIENTIFIC, AND SYSTEMIC)

Iskender Abdurashidovich Gaparov
Samara National Research University named after Acedemician S.P. Korolev, Samara, Russia
Keywords: utility, truth, goodness, beauty, pleasure, idea, life, technology

Abstract

The article deals with the issue of defining the concept of utility. The purpose of the discussion is to characterize metaphysical, scientific and systemic approaches to determining utility and to show their advantages and disadvantages. The argument is based on comparative and transcendental methods. The ideas of metaphysicians, scientists working in the political economic and evolutionary fields, utilitarians, pragmatists, and representatives of the philosophy of technology are considered. As a result of the study, six ways to define the concept of utility are identified and characterized. It is shown that each definition related to utility acts as a way of capturing the relationship between sensuality, mind and reason, the ideal and real worlds. A general definition of utility is formulated as an idea of reason expressing the unity of apperception.