Drawing primarily from the late Erich Fromm’s (1900-1980) The Heart of Man: Its Genius for Good and Evil, The Art of Loving, and Man for Himself: An Inquiry into the Psychology of Ethics, one can typically extrapolate the following basic human needs that differentiate, by and large, human beings from other species of animal:
- Relatedness: The most basic of human (psychological) needs and built around the ability of humans to form bonds with each other—bonds that include love for other humans and the forging of hierarchical relationships between and among individuals while retaining each individual’s unique identity;
- Transcendence: The unique ability of humans to rise above their circumstances by transcending the natural world. This “need” encapsulates Fromm’s emphasis on the duality of human nature (i.e., man’s proclivity for acting in both positive and negative ways);
- Rootedness: Fromm believed fervently that humans need to stake roots in their environment—in effect, to feel at home and secure in their surroundings;
- Sense of Identity: Similar to the need for “relatedness,” Fromm’s philosophical perspective recognized a basic human need for individuality and for a personal sense of identity. Each individual has an innate need to differentiate his- or herself from others. This “need” contradicts the sense of relatedness in that it reaffirms the need to maintain one’s personal identity simultaneous with the need to belong to a larger group;
- Frame of Orientation: Basically, a restatement of man’s existential need to understand his place in the cosmos. Personally, I like the way Fromm summarized this “need” early in Man for Himself: “. . .human personality cannot be understood unless we look at man in his totality, which includes his need to find an answer to the question of the meaning of his existence and to discover norms according to which he ought to live.”
- Excitation and Stimulation: An add-on for some scholars of Fromm, this refers to man’s innate “need” to identify goals and work towards their attainment.
Now that Fromm’s basic human needs have been identified, we can proceed to analyze and rank them, although the latter task is very subjective and the individual student should do that him- or herself.
When analyzing Fromm’s basic human needs, it is reasonable to note that some of these needs are less unique to humans than this rather brilliant philosopher/psychoanalyst seemed to suggest. The more we learn of certain animal species, whether gorillas or elephants or dolphins, or certain other animal species, the more we recognize in them—such as the bond between mother and child and the importance of the group—basic needs similar or identical to those of humans. Where Fromm is correct, however, is in the more destructive or negative of those needs, such as with respect to transcendence, or the need (which could be considered less a need than a want) to defeat or destroy our natural surroundings for our own narcissistic benefit. Fromm is also correct, to the extent we can truly understand other species, in his emphasis on a frame of orientation. To the best of our knowledge, no other species ponders, as do humans, their place in the world or the universe. The history of humanity, however, does seem to largely validate Fromm’s views regarding humanity.
Regarding the student’s assignment, the more personal the response the better. This, then, requires some level of introspection—ironically, one of Fromm’s basic human needs. In this, we continue to question the validity of the concept of “need” as opposed to “want.” Humans can be said to genuinely need a sense of community and a sense of being rooted in one’s environment. One need not, however, be particularly introspective with regard to one’s place in the universe. Existentialism is, after all, not for everyone, and certainly excludes a wide variety of psychopaths whose actions occur in complete disregard for others and for their surroundings. Indeed, self-absorption is a prevailing characteristic of many individuals (and it is important to keep in mind Fromm’s emphasis on both good and evil as being innately human), and one could consider the role of modern information technologies in driving individuals deeper into their own selves with diminishing senses of situational awareness. In any event, there is no doubt that certain needs, such as that for a sense of community, take precedence over others, such as a frame of orientation.
What can occur when one of these needs goes unmet? Well, for those lacking in a sense of excitation and stimulation, mental and professional stagnation would certainly result, but that’s okay for many who are content in their lives working what some of us consider menial, dull jobs.
Are there needs that adults are still trying to meet? Depending upon your geographic location and individual and social circumstances, self-preservation is in itself a higher priority than existentialist rumination regarding our place in the universe. Refugees fleeing wars in Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are less inclined to think in terms of their frame of orientation than in simply staying alive. Even with such people, however, one can apply the rest of Fromm’s “needs,” only at a different scale than for the more affluent, materialistic American for whom self-preservation is largely a given and goals revolve more around the usual things like a bigger house, better car, and newer computer system. Fromm certainly associated the concept of “greed” with the less-attractive of human needs, it being “the bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.” When discussing “needs,” it is, after, all relative.
The most commonly unmet need in “our” society is probably that of transcendence. While debates over climate change and the impact of human conduct on the environment are ongoing, one can certainly argue that humans continue to struggle to overcome natural obstacles to the attainment of their wants, whether in terms of environmental degradation resulting from subsistence agricultural practices or from industrial polluting, or from man’s failure to date to reconcile laws of physics with an insatiable curiosity about the universe. Humans continue to seek ways to explore the cosmos despite budgetary and technological limitations and the fact of having to reconcile the lifespan of the normal human being with the vast, almost incomprehensible distances involved in exploring space. Out-of-work miners in northern Minnesota continue to exhibit an innate need for rootedness despite environmental degradation associated with their means of survival and the fiscal realities of commodity pricing in a globalized world. They demand the rest of society conform to their limited objectives rather than sacrifice their sense of community and rootedness.
Differentiating genuine needs from wants is a singular challenge in discussing Fromm’s list of human needs. Often, individuals and societies fail to draw such distinctions, defining their own wants as needs and demanding the rest of society conform to their ideals. In this sense, Fromm was absolutely correct in his emphasis on the bad that comes with the good.
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