Human Needs
by Joseph Rowlands
Human needs are a critical part of Objectivist ethics. To see why, you have to understand what is meant by the phrase 'human needs'? If you ask people what they need to live, they might say something like "Well, we only need food and water". Maybe some will mention shelter or medical care, but the list is often kept small. The reason for this narrow view of needs is that the term "need" is dependent on some kind of goal. You need X if you want Y to happen. You need to fill your car with gas if you want it to continue to run. You need to pay your electricity bill if you want to continue to have electricity. And so when you ask someone what they need to live, they look at the necessary requirements.
The big problem with the short list is that it has an implied goal of merely staying alive, or avoiding death. But life is much more complicated than that. You don't just need food and water. You need a method of acquiring them. You need the knowledge and skills necessary to produce them yourself, or trade for them. As you secure your immediate needs of survival, you increase your range of operation. At each stage, there are new necessities. Since life involves more than cowering in a cave hoping to find some berries to eat, there are going to be more human needs.
The story of Robinson Crusoe provides an excellent example. After being shipwrecked on an island, he had to constantly expand his range of operation. First, he needed to secure food and water. After successfully retrieving food from the wreckage, he had to find himself shelter. After he was able to do that, he thought more long term. He worked to secure new sources of food, so he wouldn't run out when the ship's supplies ran out. To get the new source, he had to learn how to hunt, how to domesticate animals, and to grow food.
And there are other needs. To find a source of food, Crusoe would have to rely on his reasoning ability. A hungry man who refuses or is unable to use his mind will quickly starve. We don't live by our instincts. Crusoe might be encouraged to eat when you're hungry, but that doesn't give you any knowledge of what you can eat. Just putting stuff in your stomach isn't enough to live. You can't survive on dirt.
So a well-functioning mind is an important human need. This can require all kinds of other needs. Knowledge, logical reasoning skills, and alertness are all easy ones to see their benefit. But even these require further needs. The knowledge needs to be integrated well in order to be most useful. Logical reasoning needs practice in order to make it faster. Alertness needs leisure and entertainment to rest and recharge.
There are other kinds of needs. Once Crusoe determines what course of action he should take, he needs to have the means. He'll need to be physically able to pursue the goal. This could mean that he needs to be physically in good shape. If he's injured or bed-ridden with illness, he won't be able to pursue many of his goals. He may also need strength, stamina and good hand-eye coordination.
Similarly if he's threatened with bodily harm, he won't be able to pursue his goals. This can come in the form of wild animals or other men. To overcome these obstacles, he has other needs. He'll need weapons and the ability to use them. He'll need tactics and an understanding of the enemy.
There's no way to list every human need because there's no limits to our needs. As some obstacles are removed, others take their place. When you've secured plenty of food, you have time to address the next set of needs. Also, some needs become more important. For instance, as you have more actions that you can choose to do, your need for a rational decision making process increases. The more possible values, the more you need an explicit system of morality to guide you.
Human needs are an important part of the Objectivist ethics because they are the motivating factor behind values. It's because of these needs that we have values. Every objective value attempts to address a human need. Medicine provides us health. A cell-phone provides us with faster, timely information. The stock market provides us with a means of investing money, or getting invested money into your company.
In every case, values are determined by the human needs they fulfill. Instead of having values "promote life" in an abstract way, we can point to the specific needs that they satisfy. We can also judge the values based on the importance of those needs. By understanding that human needs are the source of values, we can better evaluate our moral choices.
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