Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

The Normative Context of Needs

Heim, Jacob D.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1398252257

Abstract Details

2014, Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, Philosophy (Arts and Sciences).
This paper will argue that claims of need cannot be fully understood, and their normative import cannot be adequately assessed, without first understanding the purpose which gives rise to the need and then making a normative judgment of some kind about that purpose. This view is contrary to the position argued by David Wiggins, which appears to be the standard view in contemporary philosophy of need, that there is a class of so-called “absolute” needs which can be understood and addressed even in the absence of such a context. In this paper I give some prima facie reasons for thinking that need claims always take place within a context of normatively weighted purposes, discuss Wiggins’ opposing view, and expose certain problematic elements of that view. I then consider and reject several possible ways of trying to salvage the absolute need concept before ultimately rejecting the concept altogether.
Mark LeBar, PhD (Advisor)
Alyssa Bernstein, PhD (Committee Member)
Arthur Zucker, PhD (Committee Member)
50 p.
Ethics; Philosophy
claims of need; Wiggins; context; purpose; teleology; normative; normativity; identity; Korsgaard

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Heim, J. D. (2014). The Normative Context of Needs [Master's thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1398252257

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Heim, Jacob. The Normative Context of Needs. 2014. Ohio University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1398252257.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Heim, Jacob. "The Normative Context of Needs." Master's thesis, Ohio University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1398252257

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1398252257
420
© 2014, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.