The liberal arts

Trivium is the name given to the first three of the seven liberal arts: grammar, rhetoric and dialectics. In addition to these three language skills the 'artes liberales' include four mathematical subjects, the quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. From ancient classical times until the nineteenth century these seven liberal arts were regarded as essential to the preparation of the 'free person' for the practical realities of life and for all further specialist education.

Of the artes liberales the three language skills, the trivium, have always received the greatest attention. Grammar is a precursor of modern linguistics. It was originally focused on the skills of speaking and writing Greek and Latin, as well as on the analysis of language and thought. Rhetoric, the theory and practice of speaking persuasively, is the precursor of modern communications theory and literary science. Dialectics, the theory and practice of reasoning, is the precursor of modern logic.

The importance of these subjects was perceived on the one hand in the context of their influence on personal development and on the other hand in their value to society. In the classical ideals regarding socio-cultural education these two were closely linked. In his Politeia Plato described the state as an enlargement of the individual, 'a person writ large'. Aristotle maintained that a city can only thrive when the persons who govern thrive.