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End-in-itself

Philosophy
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

An end-in-itself is something valued for its own sake, not as a means to another end. Kant used it to describe human dignity and moral autonomy.

Detailed Definition
Poetry often treats persons, nature, or art as ends-in-themselves—resisting instrumentalization. This philosophical stance shapes lyric ethics: attention becomes reverence, and description an act of honoring intrinsic worth, countering utilitarian logic with contemplative presence.
Example
Example in poetry:
William Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” treats nature as end-in-itself, not resource; Mary Oliver’s “Wild Geese” addresses reader as worthy of grace without merit; Wendell Berry’s “The Peace of Wild Things” finds solace in non-instrumental nature; Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Archaic Torso of Apollo” honors art’s intrinsic demand; Li-Young Lee’s “From Blossoms” treats peaches as gift to be savored, not consumed; Emily Dickinson’s “I taste a liquor never brewed” celebrates intoxication of being as sufficient.
Additional Notes
End-in-itself (Kant) describes what has intrinsic worth—e.g., persons, not tools. In poetry, this appears as reverence for beings without instrumentalizing them: Bishop’s fish, Merwin’s trees. Contrast with enframing (Heidegger), which treats world as resource. Professors can use this to critique anthropocentrism: how does the poem grant autonomy to its subjects? Related to ethical demand (Levinas) and non-dual thinking, but grounded in deontological ethics. Students should note apostrophe (addressing things) as ethical act.
Also Known As
End in itself Kant's kingdom of ends member
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