Editing Need (section)

== Doyal and Gough's definition == 
A second view of need is presented in the work of [[political economy]] professor Ian Gough, who has published on the subject of human needs in the context of social assistance provided by the [[welfare state]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bath.ac.uk/soc-pol/staff/profiles/ian-gough.html |title=Department of Social and Policy Sciences at the University of Bath |access-date=2007-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070214001513/http://www.bath.ac.uk/soc-pol/staff/profiles/ian-gough.html |archive-date=2007-02-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Together with [[medical ethics]] professor [[Len Doyal]],<ref>{{multiref2|1={{cite magazine |title=Len Doyal retires after 15 years |url=http://www.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/research/anglogerman/docs/bulletin34.pdf |magazine=The Bulletin: Queen Mary, University of London's newsletter for staff and students |issue=34 |publisher=Queen Mary University of London |date=March 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425112128/http://www.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/research/anglogerman/docs/bulletin34.pdf |archive-date=25 April 2012 |page=6}}|2={{Citation |last=Doyal |first=Len |url=http://www.ihse.qmul.ac.uk/staff/staff.php?action=cv&uid=244 |date=2006  |url-status=dead |access-date=2007-07-26 |title=Curriculum Vitae |archive-date=2006-10-14 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061014012735/http://www.ihse.qmul.ac.uk/staff/staff.php?action=cv&uid=244}} }}</ref> he published ''A Theory of Human Need'' in 1991.<ref name=hn>{{cite web|url=http://changingminds.org/explanations/needs/doyal_gough.htm|title=Doyal and Gough's Intermediate Needs|website=changingminds.org}}</ref> 

Their view goes beyond the emphasis on psychology: it might be said that an individual's needs represent "the costs of being human" within society. A person who does not have their needs fulfilled—i.e., a "needy" person—will function poorly in society.

In the view of Gough and Doyal, every person has an objective interest in avoiding serious harm that prevents that person from endeavoring to attain their vision of what is good, regardless of what exactly that may be. That endeavour requires a capacity to ''participate'' in the societal setting in which the individual lives. More specifically, every person needs to possess both physical health and personal autonomy. The latter involves the capacity to make informed choices about what should be done and how to implement it. This requires mental health, cognitive skills, and opportunities to participate in society's activities and collective decision-making.

How are such needs satisfied? Doyal and Gough point to twelve broad categories of "intermediate needs" that define how the needs for physical health and personal autonomy are fulfilled:<ref name=hn />
# Adequate nutritious food and water
# Adequate protective housing
# A safe work environment 
# A supply of clothing 
# A safe physical environment
# Appropriate health care
# Security in childhood
# Meaningful primary relations with others
# Physical security
# Economic security
# Safe birth control and child-bearing
# Appropriate basic and cross-cultural education

How are the details of needs satisfaction determined? The authors point to rational identification of needs, using up-to-date scientific knowledge; consideration of the actual experiences of individuals in their everyday lives; and democratic decision-making. The satisfaction of human needs cannot be imposed "from above".

This theory may be compared to the ''[[capability approach]]'' developed by [[Amartya Sen]] and [[Martha Nussbaum]]. Individuals with more internal "assets" or "capacities" (e.g., education, mental health, physical strength, etc.) have more capabilities (i.e., more available choices, more [[positive freedom]]). They are thus more able to escape or avoid poverty. Those individuals who possess more capabilities fulfill more of their needs.

Pending publication in 2015 in the Cambridge Journal of Economics of the final version of this work, Gough discussed the Doyal/Gough theory in a working paper available online.<ref>Gough, Ian (June 2014). [http://personal.lse.ac.uk/goughi/sustainable%20welfare%20and%20human%20need%206.pdf "Climate Change and Sustainable Welfare: An Argument for the Centrality of Human Needs"]. Paper was presented at the GRI discussion group on June 19, 2014, Grantham Research Institute on	Climate	Change	and the	Environment, London School of Economics.</ref>