In a value metaphysics, on the other hand, society and intellect are patterns of value. They’re real. They’re independent. They’re not properties of “man” any more than cats are the property of cat food or a tree is a property of soil. Biological man does not create his society any more than soil “creates” a tree. The pattern of the tree is dependent upon the minerals in the soil and would die without them, but the tree’s pattern is not created by the soil’s chemical pattern. It is hostile to the soil’s chemical pattern. It “exploits” the soil, “devours” the soil for its own purposes, just as
...more
