Maslow did something very simple: puts, within his culture, human needs in order of urgency. One of the main criteria was the time we can live without. Thus, if we are hungry and without air, we first want to breathe; if we are thirsty and hungry, we want to drink water first, even if food is offer.
In the famous framework of Maslow, usually represented by a pyramid, the needs are in the following inverted order:
5. Self-actualization needs - the desire to be fully what we can be. These needs will never be fully satisfied;
4. Esteem needs - because we need others to recognize us as heroes, as competents, or because we ourselves need to feel competent, independent, free;
3. Social needs - we need to belong to a family, a group, we need to feel that our place is in this world;
2. Safety needs - we need stability, protection, we need a sense that we and our loved ones will wake up tomorrow in good health;
1. Physiological needs - eating, drinking, keeping the pH balance, sleeping and, of course, breathing.
These needs are, according to Maslow, arranged so that the less time we can do without something, the more we need it. Breathing is probably the "need of the needs".
Criticism against Maslow derived from two relevant aspects: the first is that different cultures generate different expectations, especially from the second level of needs onwards. The second aspect is even more relevant: this hierarchy discards or ignores the inner strength of human character. In the world of Maslow's needs, there are no heroes and saints, who sacrifice themselves for others despite the risk of self-destruction; there is no hungry poets and painters, who prefers art to eat. And we know that everywhere life is full of heroism, made up of small daily acts of altruism.
However, Maslow has his value. It was he who had the courage to expose a crudely explicit theory about the organization of our desires and dared to shed light on the criteria that drive many of our decisions.
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