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Full Idea
Everything that can be taken as an end cannot be defined. Means, such as power and money, are easily defined, and that is why people orient themselves exclusively towards the acquisition of means.
Gist of Idea
Ends, unlike means, cannot be defined, which is why people tend to pursue means
Source
Simone Weil (Reflections on Value [1941], p.31)
Book Ref
Weil,Simone: 'Late Philosophical Writings' [Notre Dame 2015], p.31
A Reaction
Nice, but too neat, because so many activities can be treated either as means or as ends, and often as both. It makes sense that people pursue what is clear to them.
| 419 | If one does not hope, one will not find the unhoped-for, since nothing leads to it [Heraclitus] |
| 18227 | We desire final things just for themselves, and not for the sake of something else [Aristotle] |
| 4381 | How can an action be intrinsically good if it is a means to 'eudaimonia'? [Ackrill on Aristotle] |
| 22494 | We must know the end, know that it is the end, and know how to attain it [Aquinas] |
| 7201 | Knowledge, wisdom and goodness only have value relative to a goal [Nietzsche] |
| 6674 | All moral judgements ultimately concern the value of ends [Rashdall] |
| 5922 | An instrumentally good thing might stay the same, but change its value because of circumstances [Ross] |
| 23882 | Ends, unlike means, cannot be defined, which is why people tend to pursue means [Weil] |