>If an internal state of affairs does not exist independently of social
>relations, why is it even useful as an analytic abstraction?
ah, this clears it up. Sorry. It does NOT exist independently of social relations. It is a sphere to which we can take up a particular claim to validity - which are entwined but can be thematically decentered.
I feel this way. We feel this way. It is this way.
I never claimed that there three spheres were independent, I used the term differentiated. My apologies for not seeing the problem earlier.
ken