Beyond Utility: Why Everything Is Becoming a Means to an End

The intersection of cultural engagement and public health has seen a shift toward the instrumentalisation of the arts, where creative activities are promoted primarily for their quantitative health benefits rather than their intrinsic value.

This trend is exemplified by recent promotional efforts in the United Kingdom, where the National Art Pass used the slogan Grow some years on to your life with art and claimed that spending time in museums and galleries could help you live longer.

Similarly, Arts Council England has promoted the perspective that engaging in cultural and creative activities provides proven health benefits for individuals and communities.

The Shift Toward Instrumentalisation

The concept of instrumentalisation refers to a worldview where activities are valued not as ends in themselves, but as means to achieve a utilitarian function. In the context of health and wellness, this means art is framed as a tool for physical longevity—specifically for the fleshy heart rather than spiritual or qualitative enrichment.

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This approach contrasts with the traditional ideal of ars gratia artis, or art for art’s sake, which suggests that the value of creative expression is independent of profit, propaganda, or health outcomes.

Julian Baggini, writing for Aeon and The Guardian, argues that this reductive perspective strips meaning from valued activities by treating them as transactional instruments for obtaining something else.

Philosophical Context of Utility

The tendency to view activities through the lens of utility aligns with broader philosophical frameworks. Utilitarianism, a family of normative ethical theories, prescribes actions that maximize happiness and well-being for the affected individuals.

According to the doctrine associated with John Stuart Mill, happiness is considered the only thing desirable as an end, while all other things are desirable only as means to that end.

The utilitarian doctrine is, that happiness is desirable, and the only thing desirable, as an end; all other things being only desirable as means to that end.

John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism (1863)

In a modern health context, this philosophy manifests as the quantification of wellness, where the “more” provided by art is measured in years added to a lifespan rather than the qualitative experience of the art itself.

Broader Implications for Wellness

The instrumentalisation of wellness extends beyond the arts into other areas of human interaction. This transactional framing can be seen in the use of dating apps, which may lead individuals to approach relationships with a consumerist mindset, treating partners as instruments for personal satisfaction.

When health benefits are the primary driver for engaging in nature, sex, or art, the activity is no longer an end in itself. This shift suggests a broader societal trend where the value of an experience is tied to its capacity to produce a measurable benefit, such as reduced pain or increased pleasure, as described in the utility theories of Jeremy Bentham.

Bentham defined utility as the capacity of objects or actions to produce benefits—such as pleasure and happiness—or to prevent harm, such as pain and unhappiness.

While the promotion of art for health benefits may encourage more people to visit galleries and museums, it raises questions about whether the spiritual and intrinsic meaning of these activities is being lost to a purely quantitative health metric.