00100	Dear Susie:
00200	
00300		I trust you got Fordham's letter asking whether to sell at
00400	$8.50 ?r hold out for $9.00.  I would instruct him to sell.  The
00500	way to do it better in the future i∂ to start earlier.  There is,
00600	after all, 9 months between the beginning of the calendar year
00700	when I can give you the stock till school starts and you need to
00800	spend the money.  Yes, yes, I'll get Hart started on your tax.
00900	
01000		As to God, man, or nature-centering.  Perhaps your teacher
01100	made the matter precise, but since he is a humanist, I doubt it.  The
01200	problem in my mind is x-centered what?  There are two major
01300	possibilities - an centered explanation of the world, and an
01400	x-centered purpose for individual people or fo∂ humanity as a whole.
01500	
01600		God-centering fits both neatly together.  You can explain the
01700	world in terms of God's purposs: he madethe rainbow to give a sign
01800	that it won't be water but fire next time, and he made the ant
01900	to be pointed out to sluggards.  Moreover, man's purpose is to do
02000	God's will, and the priests purpose is to point out that the ruler's
02100	purpose is God's will).  Man-centering works nicely for human purposes:
02200	it can be to do good for humanity, but it lacks something when it
02300	comes to explaining the world, except that man can say "The highest
02400	study of Mankind is Man" which suggests gently ignoringwwhatever
02500	questions don't give man a central role.  Finally, nature-centering
02600	is fine for explaining things, but it doesn't provide a purpose
02700	for individuals or for humanity as a whole, except in so far as it
02800	provides a biological explanation for those purposes which are
02900	found to exist.  The notion of "x-centered" is a neat humanities
03000	type notion which allows sweeping under the rug the incomparabilities
03100	among the ideologies to be examined.  Moreover, the historical sequence
03200	proposed by your teacher is dubious.  The ideas called human-centered
03300	and nature-centered are contemporary with each other and have been
03400	combined in various ways by thinkers who use nature-centering for
03500	one purpose and human-centering for others.  True God-centering
03600	for explanatory purposes is almost dead these days even among the
03700	religious.  I'll send you a copy of my tract "A Letter to Christian
03800	Physicists" that makes this point in detail.
03900	
04000	
04100						Love,
04200	
04300	
04400						John