Editing Value theory (section)

==== Intrinsic and instrumental ====
{{main|Instrumental and intrinsic value}}
[[File:Intrinsic and instrumental values.svg|thumb|alt=Diagram with a box labelled "instrumental value" and an arrow pointing to a circle labelled "intrinsic value"|An entity has intrinsic value if it is good in itself. An entity has instrumental value if it leads to other good things.<ref name="auto15">{{multiref | {{harvnb|Hurka|2006a|pp=719–720}} | {{harvnb|Schroeder|2021|loc=§ 2.1 Intrinsic Value}} | {{harvnb|Rønnow-Rasmussen|2015|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=uvzVBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA29 29–30]}} | {{harvnb|Zimmerman|Bradley|2019|loc=Lead section}} }}</ref>]]
[[File:Chain of instrumental values.svg|thumb|alt=Diagram with several boxes and arrows labelled "chain of instrumental values", and a circle labelled "intrinsic value"|Instrumental values can form chains with intrinsic values as their endpoints.<ref name="auto14">{{multiref | {{harvnb|Hurka|2006a|pp=719–720}} | {{harvnb|Zimmerman|Bradley|2019|loc=§ 6. What Is Extrinsic Value?}} }}</ref>]]
A thing has intrinsic or final value if it is good in itself or good for its own sake, independent of external factors or outcomes. A thing has extrinsic or instrumental value if it is useful or leads to other good things, serving as a means to bring about a desirable end. For example, tools like microwaves or money have instrumental value due to the useful functions they perform.<ref name="auto15"/> In some cases, the thing produced this way has itself instrumental value, like when using money to buy a microwave. This can result in a chain of instrumentally valuable things in which each link gets its value by causing the following link. Intrinsically valuable things stand at the endpoint of these chains and ground the value of all the preceding links.<ref name="auto14"/> 

One suggestion to distinguish between intrinsic and instrumental value, proposed by [[G. E. Moore]], relies on a [[thought experiment]] that imagines the valuable thing in isolation from everything else. In such a situation, purely instrumentally valuable things lose their value since they serve no purpose while purely intrinsically valuable things remain valuable.<ref name="auto1">{{multiref | {{harvnb|Zimmerman|Bradley|2019|loc=§ 2. What Is Intrinsic Value?}} | {{harvnb|Rønnow-Rasmussen|2015|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=uvzVBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA30 30–31]}} }}</ref>{{efn|Critics of this thought experiment argue that it depends on controversial assumptions about the nature of intrinsic value and is not applicable to all cases.<ref>{{harvnb|Orsi|2015|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=cc3cBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 31–32]}}</ref>}} According to a common view, [[pleasure]] is one of the sources of intrinsic value. Other suggested sources include [[desire]] satisfaction, [[virtue]], [[life]], [[health]], [[beauty]], [[freedom]], and [[knowledge]].<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Zimmerman|Bradley|2019|loc=§ 1. What Has Intrinsic Value?}} | {{harvnb|Schroeder|2021|loc=§ 2.1 Intrinsic Value}} | {{harvnb|Heathwood|2015|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=uvzVBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA140 140]}} }}</ref>

[[File:Intrinsic and instrumental values2.svg|thumb|alt=Diagram with a circle inside a box labelled "intrinsic and instrumental value", an arrow, and another circle labelled "intrinsic value"|A thing can have both intrinsic and instrumental value if it is good in itself and leads to other good things.<ref name="auto16">{{multiref | {{harvnb|Schellekens|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=LB4SBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA38 38]}} | {{harvnb|Vilkka|2021|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=2WxPEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA32 32]}} }}</ref>]]
[[File:Positive and negative value.svg|thumb|alt=Diagram with a box labelled "instrumental value", two arrows, and two circles labelled "positive intrinsic value" and "negative intrinsic value"|A thing can have both positive and negative consequences. Its total instrumental value is the value balance of all its consequences.<ref name="auto11">{{multiref | {{harvnb|Zimmerman|Bradley|2019|loc=§ 6. What Is Extrinsic Value?}} | {{harvnb|Zimmerman|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=9pqECJM08rkC&pg=PA253 253]}} }}</ref>]]

Intrinsic and instrumental value are not exclusive categories. As a result, a thing can have both intrinsic and instrumental value if it is both good in itself while also leading to other good things.<ref name="auto16"/> In a similar sense, a thing can have different instrumental values at the same time, both positive and negative ones. This is the case if some of its consequences are good while others are bad. The total instrumental value of a thing is the value balance of all its consequences.<ref name="auto11"/>

Because instrumental value depends on other values, it is an open question whether it should be understood as a value in a strict sense. For example, the overall value of a chain of causes leading to an intrinsically valuable thing remains the same if instrumentally valuable links are added or removed without affecting the intrinsically valuable thing. The observation that the overall value does not change is sometimes used as an argument that the things added or removed do not have value.<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Zimmerman|Bradley|2019|loc=§ 6. What Is Extrinsic Value?}} | {{harvnb|Zimmerman|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=9pqECJM08rkC&pg=PA252 252]}} }}</ref>

Traditionally, value theorists have used the terms ''intrinsic value'' and ''final value'' interchangeably, just like the terms ''extrinsic value'' and ''instrumental value''. This practice has been questioned in the 20th century based on the idea that they are similar but not identical concepts. According to this view, a thing has intrinsic value if the source of its value is an [[intrinsic property]], meaning that the value does not depend on how the thing is related to other objects. Extrinsic value, by contrast, depends on [[Relation (philosophy)#Internal and external|external relations]]. This view sees instrumental value as one type of extrinsic value based on external [[Causality|causal relations]]. At the same time, it allows that there are other types of non-instrumental extrinsic value that result from external non-causal relations. Final value is understood as what is valued for its own sake, independent of whether intrinsic or extrinsic properties are responsible.<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Schroeder|2021|loc=§ 2.1 Intrinsic Value}} | {{harvnb|Zimmerman|Bradley|2019|loc=§ 3. Is There Such a Thing As Intrinsic Value At All?, § 6. What Is Extrinsic Value?}} | {{harvnb|Rønnow-Rasmussen|2015|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=uvzVBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA29 29–30]}} }}</ref>{{efn|In the [[social sciences]], some works rely on the concept of relational value to understand the value of the relationship between humans and nature. According to this view, relational value is a unique type of value that is neither intrinsic nor instrumental.<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Chan|Gould|Pascual|2018|pp=A1–A2}} | {{harvnb|Jax|2023|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=j57WEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT38 59–60]}} | {{harvnb|Gupta|2024|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=U9EEEQAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 11]}} }}</ref>}}