Nyttebegreber

Nyttebegreber is a Norwegian term that translates roughly to “utility concepts” or “concepts of usefulness.” In academic discourse, it refers to groups of ideas used to assess how useful, valuable, or appropriate a concept, object, or action is within a given goal or context. The term is most often encountered in discussions across economics, philosophy, and information science, where the notion of usefulness plays a central role.

In economics, nytte refers to utility, the satisfaction or benefit a consumer derives from goods and services. Nyttebegreber in this field include how preferences are modeled, how utilities are measured, and how choices are explained by maximizing utility under constraints. The idea extends to welfare economics and questions about how different outcomes affect overall well-being. In moral philosophy, utilitarian reasoning relies on nyttebegreber to evaluate actions by their consequences for collective welfare.

In information science and pedagogy, nyttebegreber are used to evaluate the usefulness of information, technologies, or educational interventions. This includes user-centered design, where usefulness informs interface decisions, and curriculum development, where concepts are judged by their practical value for learning and problem solving. Limitations of nyttebegreber include context dependence, subjective judgments of usefulness, and the challenge of measuring impact across different goals and stakeholders.

See also: utility, utilitarianism, nyttefunksjon.