The essay is the contribution to analysis of the determination and addition of the utility. There are shown the contradictions between quantitative and qualitative thinking about the problems of utility for the individual and for multitude people in society. In this interpretation rised also the...

The paper contains a descriptive analysis of selected interdisciplinary research methods developed for the study of complex socio-ecological systems (climate change problems in particular). Institutional analysis and participatory methods of social consensus are in the centre of the focus.