=143. Duties relating to the use of external goods.--Cupidity.--Avarice.=--From the very fact that man is a part of nature, it manifestly follows that he is allowed to make his profit of the goods of nature and to turn them to his use. The only question is then to know to what degree and in what spirit, he should love material goods, and what use he is to make of them, not in regard to others, but in regard to himself. A first consideration is that material things or riches have no value in themselves; they are only worth anything as they suit our wants. Gold and silver, in particular, are only a value because they can be exchanged against useful things, and these things, again, are only good because they are useful. They are, to employ Kant's favorite formula, _means_, not _ends_. Now we precisely overthrow this order when we take material things as ends and not as means--that is to say, when we attribute to them an _absolute_ instead of a _relative_ value. This happens when, for example, we seek gain for gain's sake; when we accumulate riches for the sole pleasure of accumulating them--a vice we call _cupidity_. It is, again, what happens when we enjoy wealth for itself, without wishing to turn it to use, and depriving ourselves of everything to enjoy the thing itself, which has no other value except that of buying other things; a vice we call _avarice_. The character of these two vices (a character which is not only contrary to prudence, but also to virtue) is to transform material things into absolute ends. "Avarice," says Kant, very justly, "is not only economy misunderstood, but a servile subjection to the goods of fortune; an incapacity of exercising mastery over them.... It is not only opposed to generosity, but to liberality of sentiments in general--that is to say, to the principle of independence which recognizes nothing but the law, and becomes thus a fraud which man commits against himself." Cupidity does not, at first glance, appear to be of so shameful, and especially so ridiculous a character as avarice; for avarice is a contradiction to one's self (to die rather than lose that which can only serve to prevent us from dying), and viewed in that light it becomes a comical oddity. But the love of gain for gain's sake is, no less than avarice, a servile subjection to the goods of fortune. To earn money is a necessity to which we must submit (and of which we need not be ashamed, since it is nature herself that requires it), but it is not, and should not be, an end to the soul. The end of wealth (without failing in the duties we owe to ourselves) should be to make sure of the means of self-preservation, self-cultivation, education--yea, even recreation; for recreation is a thing much more refined and noble than accumulation of wealth. In one word, according to an old saying, one must possess riches and not be possessed by them.