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