In your example about how food is a "want" (because you may not want to survive) I don't think you are taking into account the fact that humans (and most likely any sentient creature) is not completely within concious control of their actions at all times.
I may want to die, I may not want to eat, but leave me in a room with food, and I'll most likely get so hungry that I eat the food. And not just because the hunger pains are so great that I choose to eat the food. My natural instincts for survival will take over, and they can be very hard to supress. Try to drown me, even if I asked you to, and I'll be struggling and gasping for breath. I won't be able to help myself. There's a reason people don't drown themselves in six inches of water without added preparations.
I'm not saying it's impossible to resist these urges, some people would be able to, or could be trained to. It just seems simplistic to say "you choose to survive, so food is a want" when there are any number of other (often non-concious) decisions being made.
Rat |
