I think this article is going to be about how you should think about liberal arts and what liberal arts is. I think it will help me learn more about thinking deeper and expanding my knowledge in liberal arts. I think liberal arts is all about writing and getting to understand how to properly write and express yourself.

Quote:

“Liberal comes from the notion of freeing the mind; there’s nothing wrong with that”

I think it is always great to keep and open and free mind, it lets you be more creative and more understanding of situations you find yourself in. 

What Are the Liberal Arts?

Liberal arts is nearly a two thousand year idea dating all the way back to latin writers. In recent years America has become very passionate and involved in the liberal arts. There were originally 7 liberal arts, the trivium of classical antiquity, consisting of grammar, rhetoric, and logic, combined with the medieval quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The main side of liberal arts would be philosophy, it is “the mother” of liberal arts. 

Why do we need liberal arts?

People say we need liberal arts because that is what a democracy runs off of. It allows people to think and speak freely and this allows populations to grow. Liberal arts plays a big part in citizenship as well. People don’t take a liberal education to develop professional or entrepreneurial skills but it is useful in helping expand them. 

What Is Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking is what runs a democracy. It allows people to speak their mind freely and see  how other people feel as well. You don’t have to dive deep into philosophy to understand critical thinking. It is a deeper thought process that lets you see two sides of a story. We are always comparing classes and categories or we enjoy various types of reasoning. These are examples of critical thinking. 

The Importance of Critical Inquiry

Sophisticated reasoning is not just a matter of analytic thinking as a formal process but it also helps organize concepts in the liberal arts curriculum. Wittgenstein tried to have philosophical studies put to a rest but by doing this he opened up and helped more people understand how helpful it is. Nations all across the world are starting to adopt and use liberal arts studies because of how useful it is. America has done a very good job at prompting and expanding it across the world. 

Core Handbook connection:

The core hand book talks about how students need to take courses that open them up to critical thinking and more creative thinking. These courses are meant to help students think more critically in a professional setting. It helps students realize and fix problems and generate possible solutions. This is one of the big factors in liberal arts education. In the article it talked a lot about critical thinking and how it helps the world work. It talks about how our society as a whole basically runs on critical thinking because that is how a democracy works. These two go hand in hand and really help students understand liberal arts studies.