I don’t think most people—rationalists included—really assign high intrinsic value to knowledge or science, even if they think at first that they do. They are valued instrumentally, for what they make possible.
If it were possible to have knowledge that was not available to consciousness, that you knew would never again be available to consciousness, but that would be stored away immutably in some part of your brain, would this have value? I don’t think so. Knowledge that could never be used (in any sense), knowledge from which there could never be any benefit, that could be connected to other knowledge, would be valueless. If you say that such a thing would not be knowledge, and that knowledge by definition must be able to be brought to awareness, does that not hint that the value of knowledge is derived from the bringing to awareness and using for some purpose (if only aesthetic purposes)?
Likewise, art does not have high intrinsic value. Art is valued for its effects, for the quasi-mystical feelings it can inspire and the joy it can bring. If Bach’s music did not move me as it does, if it did not inspire me, the only value I would assign to it is value based on whether and how much it moves and inspires other people.
I don’t think most people—rationalists included—really assign high intrinsic value to knowledge or science, even if they think at first that they do. They are valued instrumentally, for what they make possible.
If it were possible to have knowledge that was not available to consciousness, that you knew would never again be available to consciousness, but that would be stored away immutably in some part of your brain, would this have value? I don’t think so. Knowledge that could never be used (in any sense), knowledge from which there could never be any benefit, that could be connected to other knowledge, would be valueless. If you say that such a thing would not be knowledge, and that knowledge by definition must be able to be brought to awareness, does that not hint that the value of knowledge is derived from the bringing to awareness and using for some purpose (if only aesthetic purposes)?
Likewise, art does not have high intrinsic value. Art is valued for its effects, for the quasi-mystical feelings it can inspire and the joy it can bring. If Bach’s music did not move me as it does, if it did not inspire me, the only value I would assign to it is value based on whether and how much it moves and inspires other people.