Liberal arts

**Liberal arts** is a name used in education. It includes humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and the arts. It has its origins in Ancient Greece. It began with a "desire for a universal understanding". It aimed at holistic education. This meant number and language. It  began with Pythagoras from the *Garden of Delights (The Hortus deliciarum).,*  It was created by a group of women in the 12th century. In the image [right] you can see the seven liberal arts arranged around the Queen Philosophy. She sits above Socrates and Plato. "Their encyclopedia compiled ideas drawn from philosophy, theology, literature, music, arts, and sciences and was intended as a teaching tool for women of the abbey who focused on Liberal Arts Education." It was intended to be a mental and practical education. The Renaissance  valued a many sided individual. 

It was an education reserved only for the elite. Students were mostly young gentlemen from wealthy families. Today, in the USA liberal arts education is still restricted to "elites" who can pay significant fees to attend exclusive liberal arts colleges. Across Europe liberal arts education is now far more affordable.  Some universities say it can now "be enjoyed by everyone."

## The four liberal arts 
The four liberal arts were taught in two groups: the *trivium* and the *quadrivium* .

During the Middle Ages, the liberal arts were central to university education. The *quadrivium* followed the preparatory work of the *trivium*.

The area and range of the liberal arts evolved in time. Most of the teaching, and all of the text-books, were in Latin.  Students learnt  Latin at school before they came to college. In the beginning the courses were aimed at educating the elite in the classical works. Eventually, the meaning of "liberal arts" got extended to include both humanities and science. But even today, practical activities as agriculture, business, engineering, pedagogy or pharmacy are excluded from the liberal arts. The **liberal professions** include only professions which require education at university, mainly law and medicine.

## The trivium
The ***trivium*** (Latin for *three ways*), included the literary :

* Grammar, the science of the correct usage of language. It helps a person to speak and write correctly;
* Dialectic (or logic), the science of correct thinking. It helps you to arrive at the truth;
* Rhetoric, the science of expression, especially persuasion. Ways of organizing a speech or document. Adapting it so that people understand it, and believe it.

## The quadrivium
The ***quadrivium*** (Latin for *four ways*), included the disciplines connected with mathematics. They were:

* arithmetic teaches about numbers;
* geometry teaches about calculating spaces;
* astronomy teaches about the stars;
* music teaches ratio and proportion and is related to melody and song as it was in the Middle Ages.

## Liberal arts colleges, USA 
Liberal arts colleges are a modern re-interpretation of the old idea. Mostly in the United States, these colleges concentrate on good teaching. They are closer to the Oxford & Cambridge type of tuition than most universities. They are mostly or entirely fee-paying institutions. They offer an elite education to students from prosperous families or gifted students through significant financial aid. The courses are mostly or entirely undergraduate courses.

## Publications on the subject
*Charles Blaich, Anne Bost, Ed Chan, and Richard Lynch 2004.  *Defining liberal arts education*. Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts.
* Sister Miriam Joseph (2002) *The Trivium: the liberal arts of logic, grammar, and rhetoric*. Paul Dry Books.
* Brand Blanshard 1973. *The uses of a liberal education: and other talks to students*. Open Court.  
* Winterer, Caroline 2002. *The culture of classicism: Ancient Greece and Rome in American intellectual life, 1780-1910*. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

## References