[MD] Digesting the world and burping Quality: An Analogy

[david buchanan]

ridgecoyote said:
There can be no other possible definition of "social pattern" than the interrelation of individuals, can there?
dmb says:
I think social level values can't be defined in terms of interrelation because that kind of collective context applies every bit as much to the intellectual level too. I think social level patterns are just those cultural values that act to keep society together. Intellectual values aren't suppose to undermine the cohesive social forces but their role is independent of those social level goals. In the same way that inorganic value forces hold a drinking glass together, intellectual values are about holding ideas together and about protecting things like truths and the freedom of thought, including the freedom to scrutinize or criticize social level values.
In short, I think that the social and intellectual levels can't be rightly distinguished from each other by pitting groups against the individual. I don't think there's any real correlation between those two distinctions.