06/03/2025
✨BSC Memory✨
Beautifully written by BSC alumna, Joelle Phillips.
“Here’s something that’s been on my mind - the term “Liberal Arts.”
In the process of working to keep Birmingham-Southern open, I’ve had the opportunity to talk with lots of stakeholders about higher education. I was troubled by how often in those conversations I saw that people mistakenly believed that the term “Liberal Arts” derived in some way from the term “liberal” in the context of politics - meaning left-leaning or socially progressive.
That’s not what the word “liberal” in the term “Liberal Arts” means. The term is centuries old and derives from the classical collection of subjects known as the “artes liberalis” - those subjects one needs to know in order to live as a free person in civil society. In other words - the things we need to know in order to exercise our liberty.
The idea is that free people must be able to see the difference in options in order to choose freely between those alternatives and must have certain understanding in order to participate in - and preserve - a civil society where people are free. Liberal Arts enable us to exercise our liberty.
Historically, the “Liberal Arts” included seven subjects:
the “trivium” of humanities (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and
the scientific “quadrivium” (astronomy, math, geometry, and music)
This illustration from the 12th century (created by an Alsatian nun - Herrad of Landsberg) describes the way these seven subjects came together to enable one to master what was considered to be the greatest subject - philosophy. Classical educators thought of philosophy as encompassing the Ancient Greek endeavor of “universal understanding.”
For centuries, educators have believed that study of the Liberal Arts enable us to live freely, to choose between ideas - politically conservative ideas or politically liberal ideas. Study of Liberal Arts prepares us to make sound choices about everything - to exercise the logic and experimentation that results in innovation, to weigh options and conclude which option is more consistent with our ethical beliefs, to understand the wonder of the natural world so that we can feel awe as we perceive the miracle of our world.
Maybe it’s too late to correct the common misunderstanding of the term “Liberal Arts.” Maybe we need a new label that better connotes what these studies enable us to do and why they are essential to exercising our liberty.“
Forward Ever 💛🖤
