What are the humanities good for: rhetoric

The humanities need a far more articulate defense (as I have blogged about here.) Over at The Australian they seem to be giving a lot of space to this, which is a good start, but I am often frustrated by their articles.

I look for someone to explain what benefits come from the study of the humanities, and all too often the piece sputters out with a "well.....people who study the humanities become productive citizens, and c'mon, we all know they are kind of important."

This is not nearly good enough. And this kind of non-argument ignores the very real practical benefits of humanities study. Chief among these for most people is a better understanding of rhetoric. I can't think of anything that better facilitate independent, creative thought than the ability to tell rhetoric from reality. You can send someone out into the world knowing as many computer languages as you want, but if they are vulnerable to politicians, reality tv and silly commercials, they're not going to have the impact on the world that you hope for.

UPDATE: a better articulate defense of the humanities would help with problems like this.

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