Examining the Anthropological–Philosophical Implicit Content in Carl Menger’s Value Theory Through Three Philosophers

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the concept of need that we find in the foundation of Carl Menger’s value theory to then confront it with such heterogeneous philosophical theories as Ludwig Feuerbach’s dialectic of feelings, Arnold Gehlen’s notion of humans as defective beings, and Ortega y Gasset’s theory about the role of technology and production in the human project. In general terms, these authors worked with the same notion of need that Menger used, but from an anthropological perspective. In this sense, we hypothesize that, despite belonging to heterogeneous philosophical traditions, the authors above can help us fully understand the concept of need in Menger, a notion that he did not develop in depth. In doing so, we attempt to show that this implicit content prefigures an anthropology that conceives human beings as primarily active and axiological beings. With this, we also aim to show the hermeneutical richness of the concept of need, as well as its relevance for creating interdisciplinary connections for future research.