Like the hierarchy of morality (discussed here), this one is not mine. It’s an idea first proposed by psychologist Abraham Maslow in 1943. Wikipedia has this entry about it. It runs like this, from the most basic:
- Physiological needs, like air, water, food, sleeping;
- Safety needs, like personal, emotional, and financial security;
- Love needs, like family and friendship;
- Esteem needs, like fame, esteem, and self-respect;
- Self-actualization needs, like parenting or pursuing goals;
- Transcendence needs, like altruism or spirituality
The last was a later addition. According to Wikipedia, this hierarchy is not without its critics; nevertheless, it’s a useful way to think about the motivations that guide our lives.
I heard about this hierarchy years ago, and it came to my attention again recently via Alan Lightman’s latest collection of essays, Probable Impossibilities. In one essay he cites this hierarchy and adds one more level (past the initial five):
[The] highest of Maslow’s proposed needs is the desire to get the most out of ourselves, to be the best we can be. I would suggest adding one more category at the very top of the pyramid, even above self-actualization: imagination and exploration. The need to imagine new possibilities, the need to reach out beyond ourselves and understand the world around us. wasn’t that need part of what propelled Marco Polo and Vasco da Gama and Einstein? Not only to help ourselves with physical survival or personal relationships or self-discovery, but to know and comprehend this strange cosmos we find ourselves in. … How did the universe begin? It is a luxury to be able to ask such questions. It is also a human necessity.
Imagination and exploration, of course, is where science fiction cues in. And the ambition to explore is the opposite of conservatism.
