Liberal arts

The term liberal arts has come to mean studies that are intended to provide general knowledge and intellectual skills, rather than more specialized occupational or professional skills.

Related Topics:
Knowledge - Intellectual - Skills

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The scope of the liberal arts has changed with society. It once emphasised the education of elites in the classics; but, with the rise of science and humanities during the Age of Enlightenment, the scope and meaning of "liberal arts" expanded to include them. Still excluded from the liberal arts are topics that are specific to particular occupations, such as agriculture, business, dentistry, engineering, medicine, pedagogy (school-teaching), and pharmacy.

Related Topics:
Society - Classics - Science - Humanities - Age of Enlightenment

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In the history of education, the seven liberal arts comprised two groups of studies: the trivium and the quadrivium. Studies in the trivium involved grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic (logic); and studies in the quadrivium involved arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. These liberal arts made up the core curriculum of the medieval universities. The term liberal in liberal arts is from the Latin word liberalis, meaning "appropriate for free men" (social and political elites), and they were contrasted with the servile arts. The liberal arts thus initially represented the kinds of skills and general knowledge needed by the elite echelon of society, whereas the servile arts represented specialized tradesman skills and knowledge needed by persons who were employed by the elite.

Related Topics:
History - Education - Seven - Trivium - Quadrivium - Grammar - Rhetoric - Dialectic - Logic - Arithmetic - Geometry - Astronomy - Music - Core curriculum - Medieval universities - Liberal - Elites - Tradesman

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Today, the liberal arts are often promoted as "liberal" in a later Enlightenment sense, as liberating of the mind, removing prejudices and unjustified assumptions. In spite of the earlier medieval meaning, this is regarded by many today as the more relevant sense of the broader term liberal education.

Related Topics:
Enlightenment - Mind

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In the United States, Liberal arts colleges are still a particular kind of higher education institution that are typified by their rejection of more direct vocational education during undergraduate studies. Following completion of their undergraduate studies at liberal arts colleges, graduates often do obtain specialized training by going to other institutions, such as professional schools (for instance, in business, law, or medicine) or graduate schools.

Related Topics:
United States - Liberal arts colleges - Vocational education - Professional school - Business - Law - Medicine - Graduate school

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Institutions outside the United States that have been inspired by U.S. liberal-arts colleges include the European College of Liberal Arts in Germany and Ashesi University in Ghana. This category of higher education does not exist in the United Kingdom, and the term "liberal arts" is very little used in any contemporary context in the UK. In Melbourne, Australia, Victoria University offers a two year TAFE Diploma known as The Diploma of Liberal Arts.

Related Topics:
Melbourne, Australia - Victoria University - TAFE

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