<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"></head><body><div><div style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Joseph,<br><br>Perhaps we shouldn't kid ourselves that ANY social theorist could avoid replacing human beings with abstractions! It's an academic affliction. We should really be playwrights and artists if we wanted to avoid it. <br><br>We should worry about functionalism, though. I agree with your comments re. Luhmann's functionalism. <br><br>Best wishes,<br><br>Mark</div></div></body></html>