August 13, 2004

Scientific Evidence for Humanists

To the Editor:

Ellen Winner's "Art History Can Trade Insights With the Sciences" (The Chronicle Review, July 2) provides excellent insights into the "fury and indignation" shown by art historians when David Hockney and I presented our findings. Her essay makes a compelling case not only for why scientists need to be trained to evaluate scientific evidence, but also for why humanists would profit from such training as well.

In the case of our findings, to understand and