[MD] Problems with Intellectual control of Society

[craigerb at comcast.net]

[ian] 
> This interminable difficulty agreeing whether the social / 
> intellectual relationship has any fixed hierarchical relation, is 
> where I suggest we treat them as one layer 
> cultural-social-intellectual (defined by semantic / symbolic / 
> linguistic communication) and look at two other axes as potential ways 
> to divide them ....  The individual vs collective, and the free vs 
> authority ideas .... Which invariably crawl out of the woodwork when 
> we debate examples - either that or we simply accept that social and 
> intellectual are not actually very well defined, don't even try to 
> objectify them any more, and do the pragmatic thing as John suggests. 
> Either way there are very FEW patterns that are entirely social, and 
> NONE that are entirely intellectual in the real human world (IMHO 
> natch). 

IMHO The four-level hierarchy is meant to explain the evolution from 
inorganic to biological life forms & from ritual to intellectual. 
There are no longer any societies with rituals but without 

intellectual rationale, so you are right we should treat them together. 
You are also right that the salient questions about the intellectual 
rationale for society involve the balance between individual- & group- 
rights/responsibilities & also the balance between freedom vs. authority. 
It is not enough for there to be an intellectual rationale for the kind of 
society we have, but it must be a high-quality one.      
Craig