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At the top of the spectrum, we have the ultimate end, studied by religionand philosophy. It is that which is intrinsically good and does not deriveits goodness from any instrumental relation to some other or highergood. It is the highest good, to which all other good is instrumental andderivative. Needless to say, it is not well defined. As noted earlier, there areunacceptable consequences from denying its existence, but the dimness ofour vision of the ultimate end is part of the human condition and requiresa great deal of mutual tolerance. The error of treating as ultimate thatwhich is not is, in theological terms, idolatry.At the bottom of the spectrum is ultimate means, the useful stuff of theworld—low-entropy matter-energy, which we can only use up and cannotcreate or replenish, and whose net production cannot possibly be the endresult of any human activity. The ultimate end is much harder to definethan ultimate means. Our current approximation to the ultimate end,unfortunately, seems to be economic growth, and part of the critique ofeconomic growth is that our devotion to it has become idolatrous, worshippinga false god, so to speak, because it is not really ultimate. But it isChapter 3 Ends, Means, and Policy • 49Figure 3.1 • The ends-means spectrum.