Abstract
The main aim of this paper is clarification of the concept of need in the context of current thinking on consumption and development, the links between the provision for basic needs, and the observance of human rights. It offers philosophical analysis of the concept of basic needs in relation to others more prominent in consumption theory such as desires, wants, preferences, relating its discussion to controversies between universalist and relativist positions in the theory of need. Drawing on a distinction between basic needs and the culturally specific modes in which these are gratified, it proceeds to offer some critical reflections on the intersection between human rights and market rights and on the global interconnections between more or less affluent forms of basic need satisfaction. It argues overall that basic need satisfaction for all, now and in the future, requires a new politics of consumption in the wealthier nations.
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