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22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / e. Means and ends

[target values, and values in achieving them]

8 ideas
If one does not hope, one will not find the unhoped-for, since nothing leads to it [Heraclitus]
     Full Idea: If one does not hope, one will not find the unhoped-for, since there is no trail leading to it and no path.
     From: Heraclitus (fragments/reports [c.500 BCE], B018), quoted by Clement - Miscellanies 2.17.4
     A reaction: The best remark about hope I have ever encountered. Usually they are empty platitudes.
We desire final things just for themselves, and not for the sake of something else [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: We call final without qualification that which is always desirable in itself and never for the sake of something else.
     From: Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1097a30), quoted by Christine M. Korsgaard - Aristotle and Kant on the Source of Value 8 'Finality'
     A reaction: This is such a simple and neat test for dividing what you value into two groups. You end up with things like art, philosophy, gardening, sipping wine, looking at beautiful views, talking to friends.
How can an action be intrinsically good if it is a means to 'eudaimonia'? [Ackrill on Aristotle]
     Full Idea: A question for Aristotle is, how can an action be good in itself if it is valued as a means to 'eudaimonia'?
     From: comment on Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1101a15) by J.L. Ackrill - Aristotle on Action p.93
     A reaction: A good question, but one which shouldn't trouble Aristotle. There is no short cut to eudaimonia (e.g. a pill); it is a state of accumulated good actions.
We must know the end, know that it is the end, and know how to attain it [Aquinas]
     Full Idea: Perfect knowledge of the end consists in not only apprehending the thing which is the end but also knowing it under the aspect of the end and the relation of the means to that end.
     From: Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologicae [1265], II-I.Q132), quoted by Philippa Foot - Natural Goodness 4
     A reaction: We don't talk much now about 'perfect' knowledge of something, but I suppose this is the necessary and sufficient conditions. If you complete the checklist, your knowledge should be perfect (if the list is right).
Knowledge, wisdom and goodness only have value relative to a goal [Nietzsche]
     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.
     From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Writings from Late Notebooks [1887], 11[122])
     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.
All moral judgements ultimately concern the value of ends [Rashdall]
     Full Idea: All moral judgements are ultimately judgements as to the value of ends.
     From: Hastings Rashdall (Theory of Good and Evil [1907], VII.I)
     A reaction: I am increasingly struck by this, especially when observing that it is the great gap in Kant's theory. For some odd reason, he gives being rational the highest possible value. Why? Nietzsche is good on this. 'Eudaimonia' seems a good start, to me.
An instrumentally good thing might stay the same, but change its value because of circumstances [Ross]
     Full Idea: If a thing is only instrumentally good or bad, then even when its nature remains the same it might have a different instrumental value if the causal laws of the universe, or of other things in the universe, were different.
     From: W. David Ross (The Right and the Good [1930], §IV)
     A reaction: A bad tin-opener might be instrumentally good if it was the only one you owned, so we don't need to change the causal laws of the universe.
Ends, unlike means, cannot be defined, which is why people tend to pursue means [Weil]
     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.
     From: Simone Weil (Reflections on Value [1941], 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.