April 2, 2004

To Save the Humanities, We Need to Do More Than Talk

To the Editor:

Cathy N. Davidson and David Theo Goldberg's essay suggesting that the keys to coping with the challenges of a complex world lie in the humanities made some good arguments, but it could be misleading if considered out of context ("A Manifesto for the Humanities in a Technological Age," The Review, February 13). What they lump together as "the humanities" is highly differentiated and includes an array of disparate theoretical orientations, some of which have actually