# Necessity

## Definition

The fundamental requirements for human survival and comfort that individuals seek to obtain through economic exchange, which Smith argues cannot be reliably provided through benevolence alone but require the mechanism of self-interested exchange.

## Source Chapter

Book I, Chapter 2

## Context

Smith argues that man has almost constant occasion for the help of his brethren, and it is in vain to expect it from benevolence only, establishing necessity as the driving force behind economic exchange.

## Economic Domain

Consumption

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