Intrinsic value (inherent worth) is an objective value that belongs to an entity by virtue of its own essence — not on account of external usefulness or subjective ascription (cf. Bexten 2017, pp. 194 ff.).
Dietrich von Hildebrand draws a sharp distinction between intrinsic value and what is merely agreeable or merely useful: whereas the agreeable only subjectively gratifies, and the useful is valuable only as a means to an end, intrinsic value is significant in itself and calls for a fitting value-response. The person possesses the highest intrinsic value among all earthly entities — her dignity is the unconditional inherent worth that is withdrawn from any calculation. Yet beneath the person there are intrinsic values as well: the beauty of a work of art, the truth of a proposition, the goodness of an action. The acknowledgment of intrinsic values presupposes that values are objective and inherent in the entity — not mere projections of the subject.
Intrinsic Value and Personhood
Ontological relation: An entity possesses an intrinsic value (inherent worth) independently of its usefulness for persons. The person herself is the paradigmatic example: her dignity is not a use-value but a value that accrues to her from her nature and is not derived. The higher animal too possesses an intrinsic value arising from its demonstrated capacity for sentience — structurally akin to the dignity of the person, yet categorially lower. Likewise ecosystems and natural resource bases have intrinsic value — not merely as a means for the person, but as entities with a value of their own (Hildebrand).
- Domain: Entity
- Range: Intrinsic Value
Sources: Generated by querying the Personhood ontology.
Further sources:
- Dietrich von Hildebrand: Ethik (1973). In: Gesammelte Werke, vol. II. Regensburg: Habbel. (German) (Distinction between intrinsic value, the agreeable, and the useful)