From Value to Value

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Discussions of rationality commonly distinguish instrumental rationality from forms of rationality oriented toward value. This paper re-examines that distinction from a simpler question concerning actual action: if a person pursues one valued state in order to attain another valued state, which in turn is pursued for another, what exactly distinguishes a “means-value” from a “value”? The paper then traces selected historical formulations of means, ends, value, and rational action from Aristotle through Hume, Bentham, Mill, Weber, Dewey, Horkheimer, and Simon. Why I put forward the “value-value-value-value” argument: the lingering syndrome of my 1980 master’s thesis. Back in 1980, seemingly out of nowhere, I chose the conceptualization of rationality as both the title and subject of my master’s thesis, with the ambition of introducing an anthropological perspective. I struggled through Rationality, edited by Brian. As a novice who had previously known only instrumental rationality, I was overwhelmed. I abandoned the anthropological approach. Yet the issue kept resurfacing in my mind. Recently, while revisiting my long-standing questions about rationality, I began reconceptualizing it along spatial and temporal dimensions and undertaking a global survey on that basis with AI. In the process, I recalled what Brian’s edited volume had suggested to me: the possibility of coexistence, at least without a subordinate status. This prompted me to put “value-value-value” to ChatGPT as a question. The AI, previously rather lukewarm, became sympathetic to the idea while undertaking the enormous task of the global survey. After further exchanges, I instructed it to develop an argument based on my central concerns and our discussion. This paper is the result. Note. There are two discussions available already: 1) Rationality in the Bible (DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22806353); Rationality as an Evolving Conceptual Topography (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22589659)