ABSTRACT
The most obvious alternative to this account of the value of knowledge is the view that knowledge has value intrinsically. Academics often lament the pragmatism of undergraduates who prize knowledge only indirectly, in terms of what it can get for them in terms of money, prestige, power, and the like. Academics like to insist, instead, that knowledge is valuable for its own sake and not because it helps people get a good job or get rich. Parents often lament not doing a better job raising their children with the phrase "if we'd only known better." Many of our military were told, on assignment in Nagasaki after World War II, that the dangers of radiation exposure could be eliminated by taking a good shower every day. Perhaps the advisors knew better, but if they didn't, they have an excuse for the damage they caused.
