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Full Idea
Knowledge and wisdom have no value as such; nor does goodness: one must always first have a goal that confers value or disvalue on these qualities.
Gist of Idea
Knowledge, wisdom and goodness only have value relative to a goal
Source
Friedrich Nietzsche (Writings from Late Notebooks [1887], 11[122])
Book Ref
Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Writings from the Late Notebooks', ed/tr. Bittner,Rüdiger [CUP 2003], p.225
A Reaction
So what goals should we have? Nietzsche talks about the 'enhancement of life', but what is that, and why should we want it? There may be an ecological cost to enhancing human life.
| 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] |