Different philosophers have proposed the most diverse answers to that question. The only thing most of these answers seem to have in common is that they are so vague or ambiguous that you cannot test them out in practice. Insofar that some of these utopian views of the ideal society or way of life have been realized, for example in communism, they have generally turned out to be disastrously wrong. We will first sketch the theoretical argument, then review the empirical evidence. In an evolutionary world view, the basic value is fitness .
Fitness is the capacity to survive and reproduce in a given environment.
Cybernetics adds that for living systems, fitness is in the first place achieved through control , that is, the capacity to counteract deviations from the goal state in which the system can optimally survive. Such deviations are for example lack of nutrients, too high or too low temperature, or damage to the organism. When the organisms deviates too much from the goal state it cannot survive. Therefore, it must remain in the vicinity of that state. The different variables defining the optimal state can therefore be seen as intrinsic needs .