Do you have the source or more context, Vivian ? The sentence doesn't make sense to me. A 'world that prioritises ends' is a world that thinks the result is more important than how you got that result. ie. An extreme example is that anything is permissible IF the goal is important enough. Whereas, 'absolutist means' generally means authoritarian/autocratic power. What's confusing to me is the use of 'vs.' (versus/contrasting/in comparison to) in the sentence. Are you sure 'vs.' isn't 'via' ? Then I could understand the sentence. Otherwise, I think I'm missing too much context.