ABSTRACT
We might take as a starting point in the discussion of this complex and important issue a recent controversy in moral philosophy. Some recent moral philosophers, in particular Professor G.E.M. Anscombe in ‘Modern moral philosophy’ in Philosophy (1958), and Mrs Foot in ‘Moral Beliefs’ (1958) have argued that the notions of human good and harm and of human flourishing, which are so central to moral philosophy, can be derived from and given a content by some description of human needs. As a plant needs water in order to flourish so a man needs the realisation of certain values in order to develop-just because he is the kind of being that he is, because he has the sort of nature that he has. Given that some non-morally engaged description of human needs or facts about human nature may be given, then moral values can both be derived and given content.
