But now I read about "defending the virtues of the liberal arts in a money-driven world," as the Times says. I would have thought that in these times the perspective of money would be ashamed to show itself. What authority, really, should the standpoint of finance any longer have for American society?

In tough times, of all times, the worth of the humanities needs no justifying. The reason is that it will take many kinds of sustenance to help people through these troubles.

But some humanists appear to believe the rumor about their own superfluity. The Times brought word of a new movement to justify the liberal arts on utilitarian grounds. It does not intend only that the cultivation of souls is a larger good, a collaborative preparation against the worst. It means also that scholarship and sensibility must be proven as a social and economic benefit.

As money tightens, the humanities may increasingly return to being what they were at the beginning of the last century, when only a minuscule portion of the population attended college: namely, the province of the wealthy.That may be unfortunate but inevitable, Mr. Kronman said. The essence of a humanities education — reading the great literary and philosophical works and coming “to grips with the question of what living is for” — may become “a great luxury that many cannot afford.”