On Needs: Part I

[lhynard]

It has always bothered me when people confuse wants with needs. You do not need a PS2; you want a PS2. However, people need food.

But I've also wondered if this is a slippery slope. Is the change from wants to needs gradual? Or is there a way we can define needs as separate from wants? Can we even define the term "need" unambiguously?

Well, today, I discussed this in detail with sadeyedartist and I think I finally came up with something. I will present this in two parts.

First, I think we should distinguish between needs and the things that satisfy needs. I think that failing to do this is part of the confusion with the word "want".

What do I mean by this?

Examples:

• One does not need a car. One needs transportation; a car fulfills that need.
• One does not need a cell phone. One needs communication; a cell phone fulfills that need.
• One does not need food. One needs nourishment; food fulfills that need. (Some may argue here that food is nourishment. I would say that food is the primary source of nourishment, but pills and IVs can also satisfy this need.)
• One does not need a PS2. One may need entertainment; a PS2 can fulfill that need.
• One does not need to have sex. One needs companionship and love; sex is oftentimes a sign and expression of that need. (Now, humanity has need of reproduction. In that case, sex supplies that need, but this is a group need, not necessarily an individual one. We are of course members of a group, but I shall discuss group needs perhaps later, for it is sure to be more complicated than my simple model stands currently.)
• etc.

The question then becomes, "What do we then need?" I have listed examples that are all abstract but very real things. We need to come up with a way of determining which abstract things are needs and which ones are not. I shall attempt to do this in my next entry....