  There are two connected problems here: the first concerns the way in which something's ‘value as a part’ depends on accepting that when it occurs as an element of a complex situation it may affect the latter's value in a way which is not simply the result of taking its intrinsic value into account. This judgement is enshrined by Moore in his ‘principle of organic unities’, which declares that this kind of non-aggregative valuation of complex situations is liable to occur. The problem here is not that Moore's principle is incorrect, but rather that it seems irrational since it puts a block on moral reasoning. The second problem concerns the thesis that intrinsic value is the same in all contexts. For this just seems wrong, in that the value of, say, friendship differs from one context to another. Although, as Moore rightly says, friendship is normally one of the most valuable things there is, it has no value at all where claims of justice are at stake, as in a court of law. So Moore's conception of absolutely universal intrinsic values should be replaced by a conception which allows for the ‘bracketing’ of normal values in certain contexts; and once this is in place, along with a more sophisticated account of normative values than Moore provides, it is reasonable to hope that the phenomena captured by Moore's irrational principle of organic unities will find a more comprehensible interpretation.