Jim Allard’s piece “Humanities lack guiding principle” (Feb. 18), should have been entitled “Allard lacks basic understanding of humanities.” Mr. Allard has much to say about the humanities, yet none of it insightful or accurate. He seems to view the humanities as a monolithic “citadel of Kantian philosophy” in which the tenants of post-modernism are accepted as gospel truth. He seems unable to grasp the concept the humanities often deal with things that cannot be quantified or proven: There is no formula for good literature; philosophical questions cannot necessarily be answered through empirical study.
Allard smugly asserts, “A common mantra in the humanities is that there are no wrong answers. … Whereas science proudly teaches students to seek truth and rule out uncertainly [sic] by using logical argumentation and fact-finding … ” If Mr. Allard had ever taken a humanities class, I’m sure his professor could verify not only do wrong answers exist, but Mr. Allard is responsible for more than his fair share.
Similarly, Allard claims that in the humanities, “in place of rational, fact-based, ethical principles, students are offered a social-subjectivist version of the Judeo-Christian code of sacrifice to ‘something higher than oneself.'” First, unlike Mr. Allard, students of humanities know that the idea of sacrifice to “something higher than oneself” is by no means exclusive to Judeo-Christian thought. The Romans, for example, revered the idea of self-sacrifice for the good of the state hundreds of years before they sacked the temple in Jerusalem or fed Christians to wild animals as a form of wholesome family entertainment. Second, I would gladly explain to Mr. Allard the usefulness of such straight-forward terms as “social justice” and “public interest” if he would explain how he arrived at the conclusion that ethical principles are rational and fact-based. Mr. Allard would do well to remember that anti-intellectualism harms the sciences as well as the humanities.
Sofia Brichford
Master of Arts, classics
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