It is almost a commonplace nowadays to hear of the end of the humanities, and defens-es of the humanities against all kinds of attack abound. A diagnosis might be in place, as an aside, before we begin: though these arguments in defense of the humanities are at the moment in vogue, the position of the attackers is not a dialogical one. Indeed, the attack does not seem to be founded on argument, but rather, in many ways, on unshakeable force – the kind of force that is not able to respond to argument (or even willing to read defenses of the humanities). In short, though there appear to be numer-ous ways of defending and attempting to fortify the humanities through perfectly valid and sound argument, the onslaught against the humanities does not seem bound either to listen or to respond.