I think a need is neccessarily tied to some goal and can’t really be discussed without mentioning the goal.
If the goal is survival the needs are water, food shelter. if your goal is not to continue living, then e.g. poison would be more of a need than food, water and shelter.
If the goal is having a fulfilled life the needs also include social contact, intimacy, something meaningful you can spend your time on etc.
so i don’t think you can just say something is a need, you need to decide what your goals are, probably with some hierarchy of goals, and work backwards from that to the needs. Or conversely, to know if something is a need, think about if not having it would keep you from your goal.
so i don’t think you can just say something is a need, you need to decide what your goals are, probably with some hierarchy of goals, and work backwards from that to the needs. Or conversely, to know if something is a need, think about if not having it would keep you from your goal.
Hmm, sadly that results in a circular reasoning, no? How do you decide upon goals - which goals are important (needs) and which are folly (desire)? Should we simply trust Maslow got it right?
I don’t think it’s circular reasoning. more like kicking the can down the road, instead of deciding needs, you need to decide goals. but once you have a goal it helps determining the needs. So it’s a different framing that can help a bit to untangle the mess. Maslow is also just 4 goals in a hierarchy and then the needs for each of them.
As for how to decide on goals, idk, that changes all the time and I don’t think there’s any hard set rule to figure that out. In the end it’s all just made up 🤷 But I think asking yourself “what are my goals in life” is more productive than asking yourself “what do I need”, at least it comes more naturally to me.
But I think asking yourself “what are my goals in life” is more productive than asking yourself “what do I need”, at least it comes more naturally to me.
I think I see what you mean. It’s searching for a vision that makes intuitive sense, no?
I think a need is neccessarily tied to some goal and can’t really be discussed without mentioning the goal.
If the goal is survival the needs are water, food shelter. if your goal is not to continue living, then e.g. poison would be more of a need than food, water and shelter.
If the goal is having a fulfilled life the needs also include social contact, intimacy, something meaningful you can spend your time on etc.
so i don’t think you can just say something is a need, you need to decide what your goals are, probably with some hierarchy of goals, and work backwards from that to the needs. Or conversely, to know if something is a need, think about if not having it would keep you from your goal.
Hmm, sadly that results in a circular reasoning, no? How do you decide upon goals - which goals are important (needs) and which are folly (desire)? Should we simply trust Maslow got it right?
I don’t think it’s circular reasoning. more like kicking the can down the road, instead of deciding needs, you need to decide goals. but once you have a goal it helps determining the needs. So it’s a different framing that can help a bit to untangle the mess. Maslow is also just 4 goals in a hierarchy and then the needs for each of them.
As for how to decide on goals, idk, that changes all the time and I don’t think there’s any hard set rule to figure that out. In the end it’s all just made up 🤷 But I think asking yourself “what are my goals in life” is more productive than asking yourself “what do I need”, at least it comes more naturally to me.
I think I see what you mean. It’s searching for a vision that makes intuitive sense, no?
Also, thank you for explaining
Yes I think that summarizes it nicely 🙂