I think Brian Callahan has it right. Homo sapiens has the 'ability'
to reason, to conceptualize. That doesn't mean that such reasoning is
correct or productive, merely that it permits flexible and
'manufactured' interactions with the envt. Never mind that a chimp
can use a stick for honey and ants; that is hardly comparable to the
reality that homo sapiens lives almost 100% by technological
interactions with the envt -which can increase and modify the diet
and permit that same species to live anywhere on earth, while other
species are bound to a limited ecological region.. I am NOT
praising or promoting homo sapiens, just commenting on the facts of
that species' adaptive nature.

But the point of that human capacity for reason, is to permit, I feel,
reflexion, - which is to say, debate, analysis, consideration - which
is the basis of homo sapien's adaptive capacities. This reflexion
must be on-going - following Popper's concept of falsifiability. We
exist within that on-going logic of Chomsky's competence, but the
actual performance is a dialogic interaction between our
capacity-to-be-ordered and logical, and the variables of a complex
reality. There isn't any perfect utopian society to aim for, but
rather - we live with the ability to adapt and 'work-out' our model
of social reality, always demanding that our model must be pragmatic,
must 'work', must permit productive lives. And that, demands a
constant reflexive responsiveness. As Callahan pointed out - a "case
of successive approximation". But - there isn't any perfect society
to aim for.  Indeed - I wonder if the perfect society would be as
tyrannical as the imperfect?

Edwina Taborsky
Bishop's University          Phone:  (819)822.9600
                                      Ext. 2424
Lennoxville, Quebec          Fax:    (819)822.9661
Canada  JIM 1Z7