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Reflections on Nantucket Development by Kevin D. Hurst
ALL PHILOSOPHICAL PAPERS begin with an unproved assump tion. My paper is based on one assumption and one prediction. The assumption is that Nantucket is valuable as it exists today, not just in monetary terms (which is merely a secondary or instrumental value), but intrinsically because of its rich traditions, unique culture, and finite location away from mainland acceleration. Because of its profound importance to the understanding of Nan tucket development, the concept of intrinsic value should be understood before going further. Intrinsic means: "Belonging to the real nature of a thing; an essential or inherent quality". Thus, intrinsic value is an inherent value which comprises the real nature of a thing, and which exists prior to any other value. Nantucket's intrinsic value should be obvious to everyone. This intrinsic value is the cause of Nantucket's popularity as a recreational retreat. Visitors do not come to Nantucket to see new commercial developments. They come to see seventeenth-century homes, cobblestoned streets, open vistas, unique moors, relaxing beaches, abundant wildlife, and historic museums; they come to enjoy an en vironment that will refresh their city souls. These homogeneous attributes comprise Nantucket's intrinsic value. Their first and foremost con sideration is essential to the well-being of Nantucket's unique culture.
G.E. Moore stated in his Problems of Moral Philosophy: By saying that a thing is intrinsically good...(one)means that it would be a good thing that the thing in question should exist, even if it existed quite alone, without any further ac companiments or effects whatsoever.' In contrast, those values derived from extensive commercial development are of a secondary or instrumental nature. Instrumental values are not intrinsically valuable; they are valuable only as a means to some end. In Nantucket's case, the desired instrumental end of com mercial development in most cases is an increase in monetary wealth. This is an important distinction; today, the majority of Nantucketers are
1 G. E. Moore, "Utility and Intrinsic Value", in Problems of Moral Philosophy, ed. Paul W. Taylor (Enaro, Calif.: Dickenson Publishing Co., Inc., 1972), p. 442.
