Note 26 — Chapter IV · THE IDEAL OF THE WHOLE
Reading edition
To rate anyone as an end per se means that in a world conceived as perfect his existence would be indispensable. The world we know may not be perfect, is not perfect, but we do conceive of an ideal world that is. And to ascribe to anyone the quality of worth, to denominate him an end per se, is to place him into that world, to regard him as potentially a member of it.