How do you recognise the difference between a need and a desire? (mander.xyz)

submitted 7 months ago by iii@mander.xyz to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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What signals do you look for? Do you decide based on reason or instinct?

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[-] yeahiknow3@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Needs are instrumental to some normative goal. You might have a reason to believe, do, or act. To that end, you have “needs.”

Desires are just natural facts, like headaches. Desires aren’t rational or irrational. They just are. The way you respond to your desires can be good or bad, but the desire itself is something that’s happening to you.

So, for instance, happiness might be one of your values. To that end, you have something like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to worry about.

You also have to contend with a laundry list of desires, fulfilling some of which could make you happy or sad. Rationality is your sensitivity and responsiveness to facts that count in favor of acting on (or eschewing) these desires.

[-] iii@mander.xyz 1 points 7 months ago

Needs are instrumental to some normative goal.

Can you elaborate please as I don't quite understand? Normative goal, as in societal norm? Where does the goal come from?

this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2025

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