“All my means are sane, my motive and my object mad.”Herman Melville · Moby Dick · 1851 · capitolul 41
A rigorous method guarantees nothing about the direction — it can even mask a mad one for years.
Ahab admits with lucidity the split between instrument and aim: the navigation, the calculations, the crew all function correctly, yet serve an obsession. It is a portrait of instrumental reason, which does not judge ends, only executes them. A person can be impeccably competent in the service of a destructive project, and competence itself hides the madness of the goal. The rigor of the method guarantees nothing about the health of the direction; it can mask it for years.
Why it matters It warns anyone pursuing a goal efficiently without having reexamined it lately, from a career consuming a life to a project that has become an obsession.