<philosophy of science, epistemology, ethics> distinction between the features of things. The intrinsic features of a thing are those which it has in and of itself; while its extrinsic features are those which it has only in its relation to something else. Thus, for example, I am intrinsically a human being, but only extrinsically a father. It might reasonably be disputed whether my being male is an intrinsic biological feature or an extrinsic cultural construction. In epistemology, the distinction between primary and secondary qualities points out the difference between the intrinsic and the extrinsic properties of material objects, and in normative ethics, deontologists and consequentialists disagree about whether the moral value of human actions resides in their intrinsic or their extrinsic features. Recommended Reading: Noah M. Lemos, Intrinsic Value: Concept and Warrant (Cambridge, 1994) and Michael J. Zimmerman, The Nature of Intrinsic Value (Rowman & Littlefield, 2001).
[A Dictionary of Philosophical Terms and Names]
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<epistemology, ethics> intrinsicism in epistemology claims that our evaluations of things as true or valuable are not affected by our nature as human beings, but that truth and values exist out there in reality, divorced from human interests and concerns. A classic example is the intrinsic theory of value in the economic thought of the Middle Ages, which held that there is one natural, intrinsically-correct price for each product in the world. This example shows the principle that intrinsicism is frequently the flip side of subjectivism, since the "natural price" was the price that the authorities or the guilds set up for themselves according to their own interests. Forms of objectivism attempt to offer workable alternatives to the false dichotomy of intrinsicism vs. subjectivism. (References from conceptualism, idealism, intuitionism, Kantianism, objectivism, perspectivism, Platonism, realism, and subjectivism.)
Edited by Giovanni Benzi
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