Bilndly pursued goals lose their meaning because goals are defined along the way

Evidence

Malaparte relates that the young Nazis, in order to become insensitive to the suffering of others, practised by plucking out the eyes of live cats; there is no more radical way of avoiding the pitfalls of ambiguity. But an action which wants to serve man ought to be careful not to forget him on the way; if it chooses to fulfill itself blindly, it will lose its meaning or will take on an unforeseen meaning; for the goal is not fixed once and for all; it is defined all along the road which leads to it. Vigilance alone can keep alive the validity of the goals and the genuine assertion of freedom. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity, 143

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• XREF: The Nazi eye-plucking anecdote could connect to the complacency topic the reader cares about — self-blinding as a strategy for evading freedom’s ambiguity.