John, is what Adler is saying simply amount to a rejection of materialism ie the view the only things which exist are material? If so, I think he is correct in saying that conceptual thought is nonmaterial just as other types of consciousness (eg perception) are non-material. The human brain as it has evolved is the material apparatus necessary for human consciousness (including conceptual thought) but that does not tell the whole story. Rand rejects materialism (and its opposite – idealism) holding that both the material and non-material (consciousness) exist and do not “war” against each other.
