"If the highest good,

is only the provision of everyone's

basic physical needs;

then the individual's pursuit

of aesthetic beauty

becomes one of the greatest evils."

Exactly at what point do our "needs" end and the "superfluous" begin? There is both an "absolute" and "relative" dynamic to both - particularly as they relate to the responsibility to the individual; as well as responsible economics. If I live strictly according to my basic needs, and give what I would have spent to the "needy;" then those who were employed because of the "superfluous" now become the "needy".