Are the humanities “useless”? If so, do they still provide a use?

Said Hui Shih to Chuang-tzu: “These sayings of yours are useless.”

“It is only with people who know about the useless that there is any point in talking about uses. In all the immensity of heaven and earth, a man uses no more than is room for his feet. If recognising this we were to dig away the ground round his feet all the way down to the underworld, would it still be useful to the man?”

“It would be useless.”

“Then it is plain that the useless does serve a use.”

Chuang-Tzu, The Inner Chapters, trans. A.C. Graham