"Men value things in three ways: as useful, as pleasant or sources of pleasure, and as excellent, or as intrinsically admirable or honorable"
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Adler distills a classical insight about how we care about things. Some things are valued as means to ends: a tool, a policy, even a habit that helps us reach another goal. Others are valued for the feelings they give us: pleasure, comfort, amusement, relief. A third class is prized for its own sake, because it is excellent, noble, intrinsically admirable. Acts of courage or justice, a luminous theorem, a great symphony, a person of integrity belong here; we do not ask what they are good for or how they make us feel so much as we recognize their worth.
All three valuations are legitimate, but they are not equal. Utility and pleasure serve and decorate life; excellence orders it. Aristotle drew this map, and Adler, a modern Aristotelian, used it to diagnose cultural confusions. When we treat excellence as if it were merely useful, we reduce art to propaganda and character to resume lines. When we treat the honorable as if it were only pleasant, we turn education into entertainment and public honor into popularity contests. Conversely, when we ignore utility and pleasure, we drift into sterile perfectionism. The challenge is right order: means under ends, pleasure under the good, admiration directed toward what is truly worthy.
Adler tied this hierarchy to liberal education. The liberal arts are not primarily training for a job or a device for producing agreeable experiences; they are disciplines that cultivate the capacity to recognize and love the excellent. A citizenry able to distinguish utility, pleasure, and intrinsic worth is less vulnerable to manipulation by metrics and spectacle. In personal life, the same distinction clarifies choices. A sweet dessert, a handy app, and an honest apology all have value, but only the last perfects the soul. Happiness, in this tradition, is not the sum of conveniences and pleasures, but a life oriented to what deserves admiration, with the lower goods fittingly arranged in its service.
All three valuations are legitimate, but they are not equal. Utility and pleasure serve and decorate life; excellence orders it. Aristotle drew this map, and Adler, a modern Aristotelian, used it to diagnose cultural confusions. When we treat excellence as if it were merely useful, we reduce art to propaganda and character to resume lines. When we treat the honorable as if it were only pleasant, we turn education into entertainment and public honor into popularity contests. Conversely, when we ignore utility and pleasure, we drift into sterile perfectionism. The challenge is right order: means under ends, pleasure under the good, admiration directed toward what is truly worthy.
Adler tied this hierarchy to liberal education. The liberal arts are not primarily training for a job or a device for producing agreeable experiences; they are disciplines that cultivate the capacity to recognize and love the excellent. A citizenry able to distinguish utility, pleasure, and intrinsic worth is less vulnerable to manipulation by metrics and spectacle. In personal life, the same distinction clarifies choices. A sweet dessert, a handy app, and an honest apology all have value, but only the last perfects the soul. Happiness, in this tradition, is not the sum of conveniences and pleasures, but a life oriented to what deserves admiration, with the lower goods fittingly arranged in its service.
Quote Details
| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
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