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Single Idea 18230

[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / f. Ultimate value ]

Full Idea

If we put together all the things that are ....not done or undergone for their own sake ...no one would choose, in order to have them, to be alive rather than not.

Gist of Idea

No one would choose life just for activities not done for their own sake

Source

Aristotle (Eudemian Ethics [c.333 BCE], 1215), quoted by Christine M. Korsgaard - Aristotle and Kant on the Source of Value 8 'Finality'

Book Ref

Korsgaard,Christine M.: 'Creating the Kingdom of Ends' [CUP 1996], p.232

A Reaction

Debatable. Roughly his question is whether you would rather be dead than be a slave, since slaves work for means, but have no ends. Aristotle would rather die, but those who surrendered in ancient battles preferred slavery.

The 34 ideas with the same theme [what has the highest value or desirablity]:

23400 Righteousness is extending the unthinkable, to reveal what must be done [Mengzi (Mencius)]
18230 No one would choose life just for activities not done for their own sake [Aristotle]
20863 The goal is to 'live in agreement', according to one rational consistent principle [Zeno of Citium, by Stobaeus]
20864 Live in agreement, according to experience of natural events [Chrysippus]
20870 The goal is to live consistently with the constitution of a human being [Stoic school, by Clement]
6209 There is no absolute good, for even the goodness of God is goodness to us [Hobbes]
6221 If there are different ultimate goods, there will be conflicting good actions, which is impossible [Cumberland]
18239 What is contemplated must have a higher value than contemplation [Kant, by Korsgaard]
18238 Only a good will can give man's being, and hence the world, a final purpose [Kant]
21431 The love of man is required in order to present the world as a beautiful and perfect moral whole [Kant]
21437 All morality directs the will to love of others' ends, and respect for others' rights [Kant]
18675 Kant may rate two things as finally valuable: having a good will, and deserving happiness [Orsi on Kant]
22007 An autonomous agent has dignity [Würde], which has absolute worth [Kant, by Pinkard]
18234 The good will is unconditionally good, because it is the only possible source of value [Kant, by Korsgaard]
6192 Good or evil cannot be a thing, but only a maxim of action, making the person good or evil [Kant]
7669 We cannot attain all the ideals of every culture, so there cannot be a perfect life [Herder, by Berlin]
5649 Will casts aside each of its temporary fulfilments, so human life has no ultimate aim [Schopenhauer, by Scruton]
23760 All we need are the unity of justice, truth and beauty [Weil]
23439 Principles are not ultimate, but arise from the necessities of human life [Foot]
22452 Do we have a concept of value, other than wanting something, or making an effort to get it? [Foot]
9233 Our criteria for evaluating how to live offer an answer to the problem [Frankfurt]
9229 What is worthwhile for its own sake alone may be worth very little [Frankfurt]
22410 Maybe the unthinkable is a moral category, and considering some options is dishonourable or absurd [Williams,B]
18648 Freedom to live according to our own conception of the good is the ultimate value [Nozick, by Kymlicka]
18541 Beauty (unlike truth and goodness) is questionable as an ultimate value [Scruton]
20151 Our attitudes include what possibilities we value, and also what is allowable, and unthinkable [Kekes]
20152 Unconditional commitments are our most basic convictions, saying what must never be done [Kekes]
20153 Doing the unthinkable damages ourselves, so it is more basic than any value [Kekes]
18228 An end can't be an ultimate value just because it is useless! [Korsgaard]
18225 If we can't reason about value, we can reason about the unconditional source of value [Korsgaard]
7067 Food first, then ethics [Critchley]
18677 A thing may have final value, which is still derived from other values, or from relations [Orsi]
24168 Aesthetic value appreciates a thing objectively, as a good in its own right [Cochrane]
24171 Morality is not a final value; it concerns how we distribute the things we actually finally value [Cochrane]