In the polyphonic discourse on the future of the humanities in higher education, much has been said about what the humanities are—and aren’t—good for. In the December 20, 2021 issue of The New Yorker, Louis Menand (an English professor at Harvard who co-founded a year-long introductory course in the humanities for freshmen) declared that: “Humanists cannot win a war against science. They should not be fighting a war against science. They should be defending their role in the knowledge business, not standing aloof in the name of unspecified and unspecifiable higher things.” In Menand’s sights were some recent advocates of the humanities whom he understands to denigrate science—as a kind of hydra of all material, quantitative, and empirical thinking—in favor of the “ineffable” outcomes of humanistic education. According to Menand, “Knowledge is a tool, not a state of being,” and humanists should get better at flexing their implements.