ABSTRACT
Abstract This paper challenges the view that the concept of human needs is essentially subjective by exploring the individual and social prerequisites for any successful human action. Also, it shows the goal of progress in meeting human need to be both rational and practicable, provided that further communicational, constitutional and ecological prerequisites are met. At the heart of the analysis is the belief that without a viable conception of human need, socialist theory and practice - especially concerning questions about social welfare - loose their moral and political coherence.
