To the Editor:

Re: “A Disappearing Haven for Humanists,” Opinion, March 5

The author and editor may not be aware, but “humanities” and “humanists” are only tangentially related. I believe the phrase they were searching for is “humanity major.” Kurt Vonnegut '44 was a humanist, Samuel Beckett and John Gardner both majored in the humanities but could not be considered humanist and Richard Dawkins, the possibly the fore-most humanist today, majored in zoology.

Humanism is a philosophical outlook — not a choice of major — one that asserts human beings are able to distinguish between right and wrong without the help of a supernatural deity, among other beliefs. Considering the number of atheists in the Engineering College, the decline of humanity majors certainly does not imply a decline of humanists.

Andrew Hoelscher ’11