Value

What's the difference between wants and needs? Or is a need just something that I want really bad?

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There are things that I want (badly) that I certainly don't need. I might very much desire to get an iPhone (say), but by no stretch of the imagination do I need one -- nothing is going to go wrong with me and my life if I don't get one.

Equally, there can be things that I need (badly) that I don't want. Perhaps, for a start, because I just don't know about them. The child needs zinc in her diet to keep healthy. But she doesn't want zinc: she doesn't know anything about it, has no thoughts about zinc. Other things I might in fact know about, and know that I need, but still not want them. The anorexic might know that she needs a full balanced diet; but she doesn't want to eat.

Needs are connected to what is required to flourish; wants can exceed needs, and can also come adrift from needs through ignorance and malfunction.

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