End in itself

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The term end in itself denotes a process or human activity that has its value in itself and does not serve as a means to pursue another end. The understanding of the term, however, depends on what is meant by self-determination and the actual motivation of the person.

Aspects of the end in itself in mysticism

A special form of the end in itself and the associated problematic of meaning can be found in the way of life of ascetic hermits who, renouncing all the advantages of social provision, live only for themselves and allow themselves to be seen as mystics or monks, from whom they also differ in that that they do not submit to any rule of the order . In doing so, they correspond to the strictly exaggerated commandment of the Christian mystic Meister Eckhart , who said:

“One should not grasp and see God as outside of oneself, but as one's own and as that which is in one; besides, one should neither serve nor work for any why, neither for God nor for one's own honor nor for anything. Some simple-minded people think they should see God as if He were there and they were here. It is not so. God and me, we are one. Through knowing I take God into me; on the other hand, through love I enter into God. "

Aspects of the end in itself in religion

Two religions are particularly close to this ascetic and strict conception. These are Buddhism and the Baha'i religion .

  • Buddhism

... has aspects of an end in itself insofar as this religion is directed less towards an external goal or an external deity than towards the path of finding the truth in the believer himself. This raises the question of the end in itself in a similar way as in the spiritual and creative activity of the People in general ( L'art pour l'art ). Who or what is ultimately this self, what is its higher goal and its life task? Buddhism does not prescribe a general way to attain a higher truth and closeness to God. This means that all formal rules and regulations are omitted, and the content-related aspect - the newly asked question: how should it actually be correct? - comes to the fore. The ultimate goal of this philosophy is salvation through knowledge, and knowledge and action are directly related. From the right way of life follows right knowledge of the world through being one with it.

  • The Bahai religion

... seems related to these demands. This becomes clear from the following quote from the founder of the religion, Bahá'u'lláh :

“He has to be able to ignore everything he has seen, heard and understood in order to enter the kingdom of the Spirit, which is the city of God. Serious effort is needed in our search for Him, and ardent zeal, so that we may taste the honey of union with Him. But if we drink from this goblet, we will throw the world away from us. "

Aspects of self-end in self-actualization

In the intention and on the path of self-realization , man recognizes and finds himself. There is another paradox: When the person who searches and acts in this way turns self-realization into a means of achieving the higher end, he is in the associated danger, that for him the end becomes an end in itself and that in the end he loses himself in sheer egoism. A possible consequence of this can be a total loss of meaning and a separation from one's own roots. The associated disorientation is a source of neuroses.

Aspects of self-end in non-intentionality

The terms 'purpose' and 'goal' as well as 'intention' are in a certain way synonymous and differ very clearly in the associated basic conception in Western and Eastern philosophy. This is particularly characterized by the Chinese principle of Wu Wei , according to which the student must learn to refrain from any conscious goal. The point is to submit to the cosmic will and law and, paradoxically, to achieve a goal by disregarding low expediency and elevating one's mind to a higher logical level. The author Eugen Herrigel illustrated this philosophy very well in his book Zen in the Art of Archery :

“If you hit the target with every shot, you are nothing more than an art shooter who can be seen ... The“ great doctrine ”of archery considers this to be pure devilry. It knows nothing of a target that is set up at a certain distance from the shooter. She only knows about the goal that cannot be technically achieved in any way, and that goal she calls, if she even calls it, Buddha ... There are degrees of mastery, and only those who have reached the last can also the outer goal don't miss any more ... "

L'art pour l'art

L'art pour l'art translated means art for art's sake and is also known in its Latin version as Ars gratia Artis . The film company Metro Goldwyn Mayer had this lettering under their famous roaring lion in the opening credits of their films. The best known is the relation of the term end in itself to the understanding of the motivation of an artist and thus the understanding of the term art. This not only implies - in this programmatic case - that art should only stand for itself, but also the exclusion of all other motifs as ultimately insignificant. The subject of the actual essence of art, which has been known at least since the Renaissance and has been discussed forever since then, turns out to be a basic theme of people and their actions themselves, insofar as these go beyond physical supply.

With no other artist are we so well informed about his inner struggle through his personal letters as with Vincent van Gogh . These letters show very clearly in detail how this struggle focuses on the problem of a higher purpose of his art, which is connected with his own life goal and fate, whereby the impression arises that he does not face this struggle voluntarily, but at the mercy of it is. In so far as he is developing an art theory, it does not appear as a conscious and deliberate construction and intention, but as a description of the state. Accordingly, as an artist, he could not justify why he acted like this, but only what was happening to him. The artist thus appears only as an executive organ, and the purpose of his action rests solely in itself and also goes completely beyond his own egoistic purposes, without being less decisive. Accordingly, the problem of the definition of art is superfluous because it is what it is - a fundamental necessity of a spiritually existing self-assertion, which all other active people have to face in a different way, like breathing a fundamental one Physical existence is necessary. The end in itself thus proves to be a primary purpose, and all other declarations of purpose would, on the other hand, only be attempted explanations later. Vincent wrote to his brother Theo :

One cannot act as someone who can bring benefits to others or who has something in mind that will pay off, no, on the contrary, it is to be foreseen that it will result in a deficit - and yet, one feels a power within ferment, one has to create a work, and it has to be created ... One often runs the risk of perishing oneself in the process; To be a painter means something like a lost guard ...

An end in itself as a primary purpose in post-hypnosis

Test subjects were induced under hypnosis to do very specific things after they woke up, which they then actually did. When asked about their motives, they gave seemingly plausible reasons. However, this gave the impression that these had only been submitted later. This raises the question of whether it is not the same with all other purposes.

An end in itself as a primary purpose and causality as a construction

The Scottish philosopher David Hume dealt particularly with the question of causality and took the view that this, too, is essentially submitted later and is therefore only a spiritual construction. He described the usual connection between cause and effect as not mandatory and mostly just constructed or gained from experience:

“But when there are many uniform examples and the same event always follows the same object, then we begin to form the concept of cause and connection. We now feel a new feeling ...; and this feeling is the archetype of that idea of ​​necessary connection that we are looking for. "

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: End in itself  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Meister Eckhart: Sermon 7.
  2. ↑ Bahá'u'lláh: The Seven Valleys. P. 12.
  3. ↑ Ursula Nuber: The Egoism Trap: Why Self-Realization So Often Makes You Lonely.
  4. ↑ Eugen Herrigel: Zen in the art of archery. See sat. Bibliography.
  5. ↑ Vincent van Gogh: Letters to his brother Theo. January 1889 - July 24, 1890, a selection, staged reading, ISBN 3-89940-430-0 .
  6. ↑ David Hume: An Inquiry into the Human Mind. Translated by Raoul Richter, ed. by Jens Kulenkampff. 12th edition. Meiner, Hamburg 1993, p. 95. Italics in the original.