Discourse of needs as a political discourse: a critical reconstruction of ‘Radical Needs'

Abstract

The aim of the present thesis is to explore the possibility of a discourse of needs as a political and a critical discourse. My starting point is the exposition of modern need theories. I argue that, for different reasons and to different degrees, these paradigmatic approaches tend to neglect the contextual and the dissentious nature of need interpretation and satisfaction. This in turn hampers the force of their critique of capitalist societies. The evaluation of modern need theories calls for an understanding of need that is normative and historical. In search for an answer, I turn to Hegel’s and mainly to Marx’s works for conceptual and theoretical opportunities of a historical outlook that does not relinquish its critical perspective. I argue that their dialectical treatment of need forms and their theoretical background informed by the relationship between “form”, “totality” and “critique” allow exploring human needs within the framework of an immanent critique. In this vein, I introduce the concept of radical needs a relatively unexplored concept in Marx scholarship as a moment of capitalist need dynamics and reconstruct it in terms of three interrelated aspects: Radical need as the milieu of human emancipation, universality embodied in radical needs and radical need as the motivation for collective action. This undertaking has two distinct yet related purposes: The first one is to construe radical needs as a powerful conceptual tool for an immanent critique, which appears to be neglected both in critical theory and in need theories. My second aim is to shed light upon the contemporary forms of “radical needs” and present the need for water, that is commonly associated with the realm of natural necessity, as a radical need form emerging in contemporary capitalism. I argue that formulating a need that is usually ascribed to the realm of natural necessity as a radical need form highlights the peculiarities of neoliberal need dynamics. The reconstruction of “radical needs” opens up a novel theoretical space for the discourse of needs as a political and a critical discourse.