The Will to Power · Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
711.
Why the standpoint of "value" lapses:-- Because in the _"whole process of the universe" the work of mankind does not come under consideration_; because a general process (viewed in the light of a system) does not exist. Because there is no such thing as a whole; because no _depreciation of human_ existence or human aims can be made in regard to something that does not exist. Because "necessity," "causality," "design," are merely useful "_semblances._" Because the aim is _not_ "the increase of the sphere of consciousness," _but the increase of power_; in which increase the utility of consciousness is also contained; and the same holds good of pleasure and pain. Because a mere _means_ must not be elevated to the highest criterion of value (such as states of consciousness like pleasure and pain, if consciousness is in itself only a means). Because the world is not an organism at all, but a thing of chaos; because the development of "intellectuality" is only a means tending relatively to extend the duration of an organisation. Because all "desirability" has no sense in regard to the general character of existence.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.