In a prior post, I wrote of the Austrian economic/philosophic linkage between desire and value that is the foundation for understanding of entrepreneurial action. First let's unpack "desires". One often sees "wants" and "needs" used instead of desires. Are these synonyms?

While there are hundreds of angels (and economists and philosophers) dancing on this pinhead, in a practical sense they can be treated as the same. They are all mental states under what Brentano calls intentionality: a cognitive state directed toward an object.

One may desire, want, or need shelter against the elements. One may desire, want, or need respect. For my purposes, I will not distinguish degrees of emotion among these and use them interchangeably. Some may describe these mental states as conative, implying action.

For Ehrenfels, desires matter only if the subject acts toward achieving, using, owning, or controlling the object. The valid verb turns on the tangibility of the object. One achieves respect by action and one owns a bottle of Dom Perignon by giving up something to own it.

From the movie Collateral, we recall the Jamie Foxx character desires a luxurious limousine, but Tom Cruise noting that Jamie wasn't doing anything to exercise this desire. This "idle" mental state doesn't correspond to our use of belief or want.

We are using the action-oriented conative states as Menger and laterAustrian scholars have done. It is important to understand that "the want" in a Mengerian sense is not a good (the Dom Perignon), per se. The want is the mental state that the good may satisfy, in whole or part.

The Champagne can satisfy the want (object) for prestige, celebration, self-reward, or as an ingredient in an extravagant sabayon (which then satisfies another want). Many goods satisfy multiple wants. Many goods satisfy any given want.

From here we impute (tomorrow?) value and choice. From there, we can discuss preference structure, demand, target markets, the value proposition of new entrepreneurial ventures, and interactive epistemology (best done after coffee).