Intrinsic Value

Final Goods and Instrumental Goods

Closely related to the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic value is one between final goods and instrumental goods. Final goods are things desired or chosen for themselves or for their own sake. Instrumental goods are means or methods selected to accomplish final goods. For example, suppose you are looking at job openings on the Internet. Someone asks you why you are doing this. You reply, “I am trying to find a job.” The rest of the conversation continues—Why do you want a job? So I can make money. Why do you want money? So I can provide my family with a decent standard of living. Why do you want to do that? So I can be happy. Why do you want to be happy?—Now what do you answer? Probably that you do not want to be happy for the sake of something else but for itself. Thus, happiness is your final good, and all the steps you take to achieve happiness, the means you use to move toward that goal, are instrumental goods.

Final Goods and Intrinsic Value

A controversial issue is how to characterize the relation between intrinsic and extrinsic value on one hand, and final and instrumental goods on the other. Consider first the relation between intrinsic value and final goods. There are several possibilities. One is that something is intrinsically valuable if and only if it is a final good. Thus, all final goods are intrinsically valuable, and only final goods are intrinsically valuable. If so, to say that something is intrinsically valuable is just to say that someone values that thing for itself or as a final good. Call this possibility “subjectivism” since intrinsic value is tied to what is desired or chosen for its own sake by some person.

A second possibility is “modest objectivism.” Modest objectivists believe that the only things that are intrinsically valuable are certain human experiences. However, they deny that what makes such experiences intrinsically valuable is that they are valued for themselves, that is, that they are final goods. Instead, they argue that some experiences are intrinsically valuable by virtue of their own nature or their own intrinsic properties. For example, modest objectivists claim that happiness is valuable in itself or in its own right and not merely because happiness is valued for itself by some people.

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