Barkley Rosser wrote: >----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- > >Again, of course, the sorts of "exchanges" one >sees in such elephant groups can be >viewed as non-market, much like socially >determined relations within human family groups. Everything that humans do has a basis, root, or analog in the natural world. Humans are, I believe, supra-natural, but not unnatural, save by choice and intention. But there is one thing that humans can do, and perhaps should do, that animals cannot. They can ask of any given trade, "Is this right?" Not merely, mind you, "Is this advantageous?" but "is it right?" Animals do things for the common good that may be disadvantageous to an individual; the nurse spider sacrifices herself for her young, for example. But I doubt she can question the trade or avoid the sacrifice. Alasdair MacIntyre defines humans as "dependent, rational animals." Because we are animals, we are intimately connected with the natural order; because we are dependent, we must fulfill our needs in community (including a community with the natural order); and because we are rational, we can choose what we "need." John C. M?daille