Instrumental value (or extrinsic value, contributory value) is the value of objects, both physical objects and abstract objects, not as ends-in-themselves, but a means of achieving something else. It is often contrasted with items of intrinsic value. It is studied in the field of value theory.
An ethic good with instrumental value may be regarded as an ethic mean, not necessarily being an end in itself.
Read more about Instrumental Value: Terminology, Direct and Indirect, Intrinsic Multism, Positive and Negative Instrumental Value, All Instrumental Value, Long and Short Term, Conditionality
Famous quotes containing the word instrumental:
“All history attests that man has subjected woman to his will, used her as a means to promote his selfish gratification, to minister to his sensual pleasures, to be instrumental in promoting his comfort; but never has he desired to elevate her to that rank she was created to fill. He has done all he could to debase and enslave her mind; and now he looks triumphantly on the ruin he has wrought, and say, the being he has thus deeply injured is his inferior.”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)