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Single Idea 23909

[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / b. Successful function ]

Full Idea

There is intrinsic use of a possession, such as of a shoe or a cloak, and its coincidental use - not of course when using a shoe as a weight, but as, for example, selling it or hiring it out (for then a shoe is used as a shoe).

Gist of Idea

Wearing a shoe is its intrinsic use, and selling it (as a shoe) is its coincidental use

Source

Aristotle (Eudemian Ethics [c.333 BCE], 1231b37)

Book Ref

Aristotle: 'Eudemian Ethics', ed/tr. Reeve, C.D.C. [Hackett 2021], p.44


A Reaction

This seems to need a third label, for using the shoe as a weight. 'Inessential use' perhaps, since the intrinsic use points towards the essential nature or function of the shoe.


The 9 ideas with the same theme [functioning well as a source of value]:

A well-made dung basket is fine, and a badly-made gold shield is base, because of function [Socrates, by Xenophon]
A thing's function is what it alone can do, or what it does better than other things [Plato]
If something has a function then it has a state of being good [Plato]
Each named function has a distinctive excellence attached to it [Aristotle]
Wearing a shoe is its intrinsic use, and selling it (as a shoe) is its coincidental use [Aristotle]
Each thing that has a function is for the sake of that function [Aristotle]
A thing's active function is its end [Aristotle]
Being a good father seems to depend on intentions, rather than actual abilities [Foot]
The function of a heart depends on what we want it to do [Searle]