A definition of a social state is proposed that incorporates the notion of procedural fairness into Harsanyi's (1955) analytical framework. We show that, within the new framework, a Harsanyi-type social welfare function is immune to Diamond's (1967) criticism. Moreover, the resulting social...

The moral imperative requiring “equal treatment of equal claims,” or impartiality, is defined in the frameworks of Harsanyi's aggregation and impartial observer theorems as an axiomatic restriction of the underlying moral value judgments. The implications of impartiality for the functional...

In Harsanyi's impartial observer theorem, an impartial observer determines a social ordering of the lotteries on the set of social alternatives based on a sympathetic but impartial concern for all individuals in society. This ordering is derived from a more primitive ordering on the set of all...