Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Wants and Needs

Back in my undergraduate years I remember writing an essay on the topic of wants and needs. The essay was a term paper for an English Comp II class, and it required many sources some of which were provided by the college. The basic idea was to discuss the differences between wants and needs, and bring support from various Authors. My essay involved a discussion of the economic revolution during the 18th century, and I discussed whether or not the world is better off with the modern market systems. I use Robert Heilbronner's book, The Worldly Philosophers, as my main source. I wrote a nice essay that involved this topic, but I did not answer a fundamental question: What is the difference between wants and needs?

After giving the topic of wants and needs some thought today, the answer popped into my head. The difference between a want and a need involves the difference between first person and third person perspectives. In the world of the first person there is no difference between a want and a need. If I want something, my soul needs it. In the realm of third person, however, there is a distinction between wants and needs. If I were to look at another individual and try to decide what he wants, I could easily say that his wants are whatever he says he wants. However, if I were to try to figure out what he needs, I would make a judgment call about what I believe this individual should or should not have. In a sense, I can decide what other people need, and they can decide what they want.

A good example can be brought from some simple wants and needs. If I said I wanted food, I would need food as well. You may say that I need food as well. A person cannot live without food. However, implicit in this argument is the judgment that life is a need. If you were dealing with a murderer that was being given a lethal injection in a few hours you may not be inclined to consider food to be this person's need. After a judgment is made regarding an individuals need for life, a need for food must follow. However, I would need food whether you would value my life or not.

5 comments:

  1. I think I missed something in your logical progression there.

    >"If I want something, my soul needs it." What is this "soul" you're talking of? This is the premise of the second line I quoted from your post, but you've provided no explanation for what "soul" you're referring to. Is it my inner drive, my logical drive (actually, scratch that), my emotional drive (hope not), or some invisible ego that magically transforms wants into needs?

    >"If I said I wanted food, I would need food as well." If I'm a glutton (which I'm not, but for argument's sake), I may very well want food, but judging by the size of my (imaginary, gluttonous) girth, I definitely don't need it. (This point will probably have no validity once you've defined "soul" for us, but I have a vivid imagination and I'm getting a kick out of picturing myself as overweight.)

    Very nicely written by the way.

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  2. The point is that from the first person perspective, "want" and "need" mean exactly the same thing. The soul usually represents the essence of a person (whatever that may be), and it is conventionally considered that which would have needs. My argument is that a show of want is an expression of need.

    "If I'm a glutton (which I'm not, but for argument's sake), I may very well want food, but judging by the size of my (imaginary, gluttonous) girth, I definitely don't need it."

    In this sentence you make an implicit assumption of what the individual needs. You assume that overweight people don't need food, and food is only necessary to gain weight. What you are doing is actually speaking about yourself in third person. But this need you speak of is subjective. I can think that you do need food, and someone else may think that you don't. But from your perspective you need food.

    Obviously, a good point to bring up here is that needs can change. What I need one moment, I don't necessarily need the next moment. When I want to go on a diet, I need to eat less food. But when I want to break my diet, I don't need to watch my weight anymore.

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  3. I don't get it!! I can always do without something I want, if I choose to. I want an ice cream cone, but I'm on a diet, so I decide not to eat it. So did I need it?
    Take that popeye!

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  4. >"...from the first person perspective, "want" and "need" mean exactly the same thing." Where did you come up with that idea from? I think that everyone, even the egocentric ones, can differentiate between a want and a need. After a 15-course meal (each one being of very generous proportions) in which our subject (the one in my imagination of course) so generously partook, do you really believe that he thinks he "needs" that last piece of Tiramisu sitting so prettily in front of him? Assuming that he would want it after the inhuman feat he had accomplished (of eating a 15-course meal), he'd have to be pretty thick-headed to say he needs it. Are you going to assert that I'm doing this all in third person and therefore I have no argument, because I could redo the whole thing in first person if you insist.

    >"The soul usually represents the essence of a person... and it is conventionally considered that which would have needs." Forgive me for the following: WHAAAAAA? (Ten minutes later and breathing again...) You're telling me that my pathetic little desire for one more piece of cake is an expression of my soul?! What if my "want" was to kill someone because, oh I don't know, they did something really horrid to me? My soul needs me to kill the dude? Um.....

    >You assume that overweight people don't need food..." You must have misunderstood me (due to my own inability to communicate effectively which I apologize for). What I intended on saying was that this gluttonous person had already consumed a fair amount of food and has complained about how much food he ate, yet is now eying the massive bowl of (frozen Bodek, now defrosted) strawberries. I highly doubt he "needs" it, and again, even if he would, it sure isn't an expression of his sould...in my humble opinion.

    >"When I want to go on a diet, I need to eat less food." Maybe I "need" to go on a diet so I "need" to eat less food but I still want to eat more food? Or maybe I want to go on a diet now, so I need to eat less food, but I still want to eat more food? I could continue on with additional possibilities, but I think you get the point.

    In short, I don't get it...

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  5. I think the problem here is that people can have more than one want, and these wants can contradict each other. The question would then be: What do you really want? A further problem (that I think I mentioned already) is the idea that wants can change from one moment to the next. When I talk about the soul I am avoiding the problem of which want is really "your" want. I assume that a person can know what he truly wants. In that case, I am saying that the true want is his need. If this changes from time to time, then needs will change from time to time.

    You might ask: How can someone who has just eaten a 15-course meal actually want to eat more? I am not saying that a person would want that. But if the person (however you define the true wants) wants more food, that is what he or she needs.

    In practicality, a person's wants are shaped by the society he or she lives in. Those wants become the needs. That is why in 21st century America, healthcare is considered a need to most people, but in ancient Greece it was not necessary. Generally, the more a person wants, the more a person needs.

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