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Anne Dalke's picture

ends, not means

Submitted by Anne Dalke on Mon, 10/07/2013 - 8:34pm.

the most striking line to me in your report this week is your celebration of the fact that women are being addressed, in this campaign, "as ends in themselves, and not means to others."  the organizations you characterize as maintaining the key services they provide by refraining from discussing/working with the issue of abortion are also clear examples of the decision to focus on ends, rather than means.

so, theorizing...i'd nudge you to re-think this valorization of "ends." do you know about the American school of philosophy known as pragmatism? which focuses not on ideal beliefs, but on practical consequences? not on what is "true," but on what is "useful"? (in your language, on means, not ends?)

What might it "mean" to conceive all human beings not as ends, but as means to some end, yet to achieve what we should....?  What might it mean to conceive of each of us as "means" for others....?

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