Needs and means become, as real existence, a being for others, through whose needs and labour satisfaction is mutually conditioned. The abstraction that becomes a quality of needs and means (see the preceding §) also becomes a determination of the mutual relation of individuals to one another; this universality, as being recognized, is the moment which makes them, in their isolation and abstraction, into concrete needs, means, and ways of satisfaction — that is, into social ones.
Because I must direct myself according to the other, the form of universality enters in here. I acquire from others the means of satisfaction and must accordingly adopt their opinion. At the same time, however, I am compelled to produce means for the satisfaction of others. The one thus plays into the other and is bound up with it. Everything particular thereby becomes something social; in the manner of dress, in the time of eating, there lies a certain convention that one must adopt, because in these matters it is not worth the trouble to want to display one’s own insight, but it is wisest to proceed in them as others do.
§ 192: Needs become social
My needs concern others. To meet them, I need others. And I myself must do something for the needs of others.
What follows from this?
I must adjust myself to others. Whoever wants to buy something must take what the others offer. And whoever wants to sell something must make what the others want. So everything takes on a universal form.
An example:
How you dress, when you eat lunch: in these things you follow custom. It is not worth pushing through your own opinion here. The wisest thing is to do what the others do.
Summary: Needs and means always relate to others. That is why we adjust ourselves to others. In this way, needs become social.
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