Liberal arts education (from Latinliberalis'free' and ars'art or principled practice')[1] is a traditional academic course in Western higher education.[2]Liberal arts takes the termart in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically thefine arts.Liberal arts education can refer to studies in a liberal arts degree course or to a university education more generally. Such a course of study contrasts with those that are principallyvocational, professional, or technical, as well as religiously based courses.[3]
The termliberal arts for an educational curriculum dates back toclassical antiquity in the West, but has changed its meaning considerably, mostly expanding it. The seven subjects in the ancient and medieval meaning came to be divided into thetrivium ofrhetoric,grammar, andlogic, and thequadrivium ofastronomy,arithmetic,geometry, andmusic. Since the late 1990s, major universities have gradually dropped the termliberal arts from their curriculum or created schools for liberal art disciplines to categorize programs outside of science and technology. Common rebrandings for liberal arts colleges and schools include:arts andsocial sciences,arts and sciences andhumanities. The name changing at American institutions comes as the result of modern statistics suggesting aLiberal Arts degree offers graduates a considerably lower income when compared to science and technology graduates.[4][5][6] Despite the rebranding, liberal arts degrees from today's universities and colleges traditionally include the following disciplines:Anthropology,English,Literature,Fine arts,Foreign languages,Philosophy,Psychology,Sociology,Music,Journalism,Economics,Law,Communications,Architecture,Creative arts,Art, andHistory. Degrees inLiberal studies are often confused with those in a liberal arts discipline. Liberal studies refers to degrees with a broad curriculum, across multiple liberal arts disciplines or sciences and technologies.
Before they became known by their Latin variations (artes liberales,septem artes liberales,studia liberalia),[7] theliberal arts were the continuation ofAncient Greek methods of inquiry that began with a "desire for a universal understanding."[8]Pythagoras argued that there was a mathematical (and geometric) harmony to the cosmos or the universe; his followers linked the four arts ofastronomy,arithmetic,geometry, andmusic into one area of study to form the "disciplines of themediaevalquadrivium".[9] In the 4th-century-BC Athens, the government of thepolis, or city-state, respected the ability ofrhetoric or public speaking above almost everything else.[10] Eventually rhetoric,grammar, anddialectic (logic) became the educational programme of thetrivium. Together they came to be known as theseven liberal arts.[11] Originally these subjects or skills were held byclassical antiquity to be essential for a free person (liberalis, "worthy of a free person")[12] to acquire in order to take an active part in civic life, something that included among other things participating in public debate, defending oneself in court, serving on juries, and participating in military service. While the arts of the quadrivium might have appeared prior to the arts of the trivium, by the Middle Ages educational programmes taught the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) first while the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy) were the following stage of education.[13]
Rooted in the basic curriculum – theeukuklios paideia or "well-rounded education" – of lateClassical andHellenistic Greece, the "liberal arts" or "liberal pursuits" (Latinliberalia studia) were already called so in formal education during theRoman Empire. The first recorded use of the term "liberal arts" (artes liberales) occurs inDe Inventione byMarcus Tullius Cicero, but it is unclear if he created the term.[14][15]Seneca the Younger discusses liberal arts in education from a criticalStoic point of view inMoral Epistles.[16] The exact classification of the liberal arts varied however in Roman times,[17] and it was only afterMartianus Capella in the 5th century influentially brought the seven liberal arts as bridesmaids to theMarriage of Mercury and Philology,[18] that they took on canonical form.[citation needed]
The four "scientific"artes – music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy – were known from the time ofBoethius onwards as thequadrivium. After the 9th century, the remaining three arts of the "humanities" – grammar, logic, and rhetoric – were grouped as thetrivium.[17] It was in that two-fold form that the seven liberal arts were studied in themedieval Western university.[19][20] During theMiddle Ages, logic gradually came to take predominance over the other parts of thetrivium.[21]
In the 12th century the iconic image –Philosophia et septem artes liberales (Philosophy and seven liberal arts)– was produced by anAlsatian nun and abbessHerrad of Landsberg with her community of women as part of theHortus deliciarum.[22] 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.[23] The imagePhilosophy and seven liberal arts represents the circle of philosophy, and is presented as a rosette of a cathedral: a central circle and a series of semicircles arranged all around. It shows learning and knowledge organised into seven relations, theSeptem Artes Liberales or Seven Liberal Arts. Each of these arts find their source in the Greek φιλοσοφία, philosophia, literally "love of wisdom".[22] St. Albert the Great, a doctor of the Catholic Church, asserted that the seven liberal arts were referred to in Sacred Scripture, saying: "It is written, 'Wisdom hath built herself a house, she hath hewn her out seven pillars' (Proverbs 9:1). This house is the Blessed Virgin; the seven pillars are the seven liberal arts."[24]
In theRenaissance, the Italian humanists and their Northern counterparts, despite in many respects continuing the traditions of the Middle Ages, reversed that process.[25] Re-christening the old trivium with a new and more ambitious name:Studia humanitatis, and also increasing its scope, they downplayed logic as opposed to the traditional Latin grammar and rhetoric, and added to them history, Greek, and moral philosophy (ethics), with a new emphasis on poetry as well.[26] Theeducational curriculum of humanism spread throughout Europe during the sixteenth century and became the educational foundation for the schooling of European elites, the functionaries of political administration, the clergy of the various legally recognized churches, and the learned professions of law and medicine.[27] The ideal of a liberal arts, or humanistic education grounded inclassical languages and literature, persisted in Europe until the middle of the twentieth century; in the United States, it had come under increasingly successful attack in the late 19th century by academics interested in reshaping American higher education around the natural and social sciences.[28][29]
Similarly,Wilhelm von Humboldt'seducational model inPrussia (now Germany), which later became the role model for higher education also in North America, went beyond vocational training. In a letter to the Prussian king, he wrote:
There are undeniably certain kinds of knowledge that must be of a general nature and, more importantly, a certain cultivation of the mind and character that nobody can afford to be without. People obviously cannot be good craftworkers, merchants, soldiers or businessmen unless, regardless of their occupation, they are good, upstanding and – according to their condition – well-informed human beings and citizens. If this basis is laid through schooling, vocational skills are easily acquired later on, and a person is always free to move from one occupation to another, as so often happens in life.[30]
The philosopherJulian Nida-Rümelin has criticized discrepancies between Humboldt's ideals and the contemporary European education policy, which narrowly understands education as a preparation for the labor market, arguing that we need to decide between "McKinsey and Humboldt".[31]
The modern use of the termliberal arts consists of four areas: the natural sciences, social sciences, arts, andhumanities. Academic areas that are associated with the term liberal arts include:
For example, the core courses for Georgetown University'sDoctor of Liberal Studies program[32] cover philosophy, theology, history, art, literature, and the social sciences.Wesleyan University'sMaster of Arts in Liberal Studies program includes courses in visual arts, art history,creative and professional writing, literature, history, mathematics, film, government, education, biology, psychology, and astronomy.[33]
In the United States, liberal arts colleges are schools emphasizing undergraduate study in the liberal arts.[36] The teaching at liberal arts colleges is oftenSocratic, typically with small classes; professors are often allowed to concentrate more on their teaching responsibilities than areprofessors at research universities.[37]
In addition, most four-year colleges are not devoted exclusively or primarily to liberal arts degrees, and offerSTEM programs. In fact, STEM graduates at liberal arts colleges have been demonstrated to be more likely to apply to graduate school in STEM than their peers and make up a higher proportion of National Academy of Science members than would usually be expected for the number of STEM graduates produced by an institution.[38]
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In 1937St. John's College radically shifted its curriculum to focus on theGreat Books of the Western World, aiming to provide a form of liberal arts education that stood apart from increasingly specialized nature of higher education.[45] This new approach emphasized a broad-based education rooted in classical texts from philosophy, literature, science, and other disciplines, in contrast to the growing trend toward technical and vocational training in universities.
In 1952,Encyclopædia Britannica published a 54 volume set titled theGreat Books of the Western World under the direction ofRobert Hutchins andMortimer Adler. This monumental work was designed to serve as a comprehensive anthology of the foundational texts of Western civilization, spanning authors from Homer and Plato to Shakespeare and Newton. The collection aimed to promote critical thinking and engagement with the ideas that have shaped Western thought. In 1990, a second edition was released, expanding the collection to 60 volumes and updating its content to reflect more contemporary works and scholarship.
In recent years, there has been a revival of interest in the Great Books and the broader Liberal Arts tradition within some contemporary Muslim educational institutions. Notably, neo-traditional Muslim scholars likeShaykh Hamza Yusuf andShaykh Abdal Hakim Murad (also known as Tim Winter) have advocated for incorporating the study of these classical works into the curriculum. These scholars emphasize that Muslims historically engaged deeply with the classical liberal arts, particularly the trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and logic) and quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy), both of which are foundational to the Western liberal arts tradition.
Institutions likeZaytuna College in the United States and theCambridge Muslim College in the United Kingdom have integrated elements of the Great Books and the liberal arts into their educational models, fostering a greater appreciation for the interconnectedness of intellectual traditions across cultures. These colleges encourage students to study classical Islamic texts alongside Western works, fostering a holistic education that draws on both Islamic and Western intellectual heritage. The engagement with the trivium and quadrivium in these institutions highlights the enduring value of liberal arts education, not only in Western contexts but also within broader, more global educational traditions.
Triumph of St.Thomas & Allegory of the Sciences by Andrea di Bonaluto. Frasco, 1365–68, Basilica di S. Maria Novella.
In most parts of Europe, liberal arts education is deeply rooted. In Germany, Austria and countries influenced by their education system it is called 'humanistische Bildung' (humanistic education). The term is not to be confused with some modern educational concepts that use a similar wording. Educational institutions that see themselves in that tradition are often aGymnasium (high school, grammar school). They aim at providing their pupils with comprehensive education (Bildung) to form personality with regard to a pupil's own humanity as well as their innate intellectual skills.[citation needed] Going back to the long tradition of the liberal arts in Europe, education in the above sense was freed fromscholastic thinking and re-shaped by the theorists of theEnlightenment; in particular,Wilhelm von Humboldt. Since students are considered to have received a comprehensive liberal arts education atgymnasia, very often the role of liberal arts education in undergraduate programs at universities is reduced compared to the US educational system.[citation needed] Students are expected to use their skills received at thegymnasium to further develop their personality in their own responsibility, e.g. in universities' music clubs, theatre groups, language clubs, etc. Universities encourage students to do so and offer respective opportunities but do not make such activities part of the university's curriculum.[citation needed]
In France,Chavagnes Studium, a Liberal Arts Study Centre in partnership with the Institut Catholique d'études supérieures, and based in a former Catholic seminary, is launching a two-year intensive BA in the Liberal Arts, with a distinctively Catholic outlook.[55] It has been suggested that the liberal arts degree may become part of mainstream education provision in the United Kingdom, Ireland and other European countries. In 1999, the European College of Liberal Arts (now Bard College Berlin) was founded in Berlin[56] and in 2009 it introduced a four-year Bachelor of Arts program in Value Studies taught in English,[57] leading to an interdisciplinary degree in the humanities.[citation needed]
In England, the first institution[58] to retrieve and update a liberal arts education at the undergraduate level was theUniversity of Winchester with their BA (Hons) Modern Liberal Arts program which launched in 2010.[58] In 2012,University College London began its interdisciplinaryArts and Sciences BASc degree (which has kinship with the liberal arts model) with 80 students.[59] In 2013, theUniversity of Birmingham created the School of Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences, home of a suite of flexible 4-year programs in which students study a broad range of subjects drawn from across the university, and gain qualifications including both traditional Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences, but also novel thematic combinations linking both areas.[60]King's College London launched the BA Liberal Arts, which has a slant towards arts, humanities and social sciences subjects.[61] TheNew College of the Humanities also launched a new liberal education programme. Richmond American University London is a private liberal arts university where all undergraduate degrees are taught with a US liberal arts approach over a four-year programme.Durham University has both a popular BA Liberal Arts and a BA Combined Honours in Social Sciences programme, both of which allow for interdisciplinary approaches to education. TheUniversity of Nottingham also has a Liberal Arts BA with study abroad options and links with its Natural Sciences degrees.[62] In 2016, theUniversity of Warwick launched a three/four-year liberal arts BA degree, which focuses on transdisciplinary approaches andproblem-based learning techniques in addition to providing structured disciplinary routes and bespoke pathways.[63] And for 2017 entry UCAS lists 20 providers of liberal arts programmes.[64]
InScotland, the four-year undergraduateHonours degree, specifically theMaster of Arts, has historically demonstrated considerable breadth in focus. In the first two years of Scottish MA and BA degrees students typically study a number of different subjects before specialising in their Honours years (third and fourth year). TheUniversity of Dundee and theUniversity of Glasgow (at its Crichton Campus) are the only Scottish universities that currently offer a specifically named 'Liberal Arts' degree.[citation needed]
The Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts (BISLA), a private institution located in theOld Town ofBratislava,Slovakia, is the firstliberal arts college in Central Europe and has been granting three-year degrees since its opening in September 2006.[65]
The Commission on Higher Education of thePhilippines mandates a General Education curriculum required of all higher education institutions; it includes a number of liberal arts subjects, including history, art appreciation, and ethics, plus interdisciplinary electives. Many universities have much more robust liberal arts core curricula; most notably, theJesuit universities such asAteneo de Manila University have a strong liberal arts core curriculum that includes philosophy, theology, literature, history, and the social sciences.Forman Christian College is a liberal arts university inLahore, Pakistan. It is one of the oldest institutions in theIndian subcontinent. It is a chartered university recognized by theHigher Education Commission of Pakistan.Aga Khan University offers a worldclass liberal arts education in the arts and sciences inKarachi, Pakistan, andHabib University inKarachi, Pakistan offers a holistic liberal arts and sciences experience to its students through its uniquely tailored liberal core program which is compulsory for all undergraduate degree students.[66][67]
Campion College is aRoman Catholic dedicated liberal arts college, located in the western suburbs of Sydney. Founded in 2006, it is the first tertiary educational liberal arts college of its type in Australia. Campion offers a Bachelor of Arts in the Liberal Arts as its sole undergraduate degree. The key disciplines studied are history, literature, philosophy, and theology.[70]
The Millis Institute is the School of Liberal Arts at Christian Heritage College located in Brisbane. Founded by Dr. Ryan Messmore, former President of Campion College, the Millis Institute offers a Bachelor of Arts in the Liberal Arts in which students can choose to major in philosophy, theology, history or literature. It also endorses a 'Study Abroad' program whereby students can earn credit towards their degree by undertaking two units over a five-week program at theUniversity of Oxford. As of 2022, Elizabeth Hillman is currently the President of the Millis Institute.[71]
A new school of Liberal Arts has been formed in theUniversity of Wollongong; the new Arts course entitled 'Western Civilisation' was first offered in 2020. The interdisciplinary curriculum focuses on the classic intellectual and artistic literature of theWestern tradition. Courses in the liberal arts have recently been developed at theUniversity of Sydney[72] and theUniversity of Notre Dame.[73]
^Kimball, Bruce A. (1995).Orators & philosophers: a history of the idea of liberal education (Expanded ed.). New York: College Entrance Examination Board.ISBN0-87447-514-7.OCLC32776486.
^Tubbs, Nigel (2014).Philosophy and Modern Liberal Arts Education: Freedom is to Learn. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 1.ISBN978-1-137-35891-2.OCLC882530818.
^Tubbs, Nigel (2014).Philosophy and Modern Liberal Arts Education: Freedom is to Learn. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 17.ISBN978-1-137-35891-2.OCLC882530818.
^Curtius, Ernst Robert (1973) [1948].European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages. Translated by Trask, Willard R. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 37.ISBN9780691097398.The classical sources include Cicero,De Oratore, I.72–73, III.127, andDe re publica, I.30.
^Castle, E.B. (1969).Ancient Education and Today. p. 59.
^Kimball, Bruce (1995).Orators and Philosophers. New York: College Entrance Examination Board. p. 13
^G. Norton ed.,The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism Vol 3 (1999)p. 46 and pp. 601–4
^Paul Oskar Kristeller,Renaissance Thought II: Papers on Humanism and the Arts (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1965), p. 178.
^Charles G. Nauert,Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe (New Approaches to European History) (Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 172–173.
^Bod, Rens;A New History of the Humanities, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2014.
^Adler, Eric;The Battle of the Classics: How a Nineteenth-Century Debate Can Save the Humanities Today, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2020, p. 59.
^As quoted in Profiles of educators: Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) by Karl-Heinz Günther (1988),doi:10.1007/BF02192965
^"About Franklin".Franklin University Switzerland Official Web Site. Franklin University Switzerland. Archived fromthe original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved3 July 2014.
Griffiths, Fiona J. (2011).The Garden of Delights: Reform and Renaissance for Women in the Twelfth Century. University of Pennsylvania Press.ISBN9780812202113.
Kimball, Bruce A.Orators and Philosophers: A History of the Idea of Liberal Education. College Board, 1995.
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Tubbs, Nigel (2014).Philosophy and Modern Liberal Arts Education: Freedom is to Learn. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN978-1-137-35891-2.OCLC882530818.
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Wagner, David Leslie (1983).The Seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages. Indiana University Press.ISBN978-0-253-35185-2.
Friedlander, Jack.Measuring the Benefits of Liberal Arts Education in Washington's Community Colleges. Los Angeles: Center for the Study of Community Colleges, 1982a. (ED 217 918)
Grafton Anthony andLisa Jardine.From Humanism to the Humanities: The Institutionalizing of the Liberal Arts in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-century Europe, Harvard University Press, 1987.
Guitton, Jean.A Student's Guide to Intellectual Work, The University of Notre Dame Press, 1964.
Joseph, Sister Miriam.The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric. Paul Dry Books Inc, 2002.
Kimball, Bruce A.The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Documentary History. University Press Of America, 2010.
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Wriston, Henry M.The Nature of a Liberal College. Lawrence University Press, 1937.
Zakaria, Fareed.In Defense of a Liberal Education. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2015.
Fr. Herve de la Tour,"The Seven Liberal Arts",Edocere, a Resource for Catholic Education, February 2002. Thomas Aquinas's definition of and justification for a liberal arts education.
Otto Willmann."The Seven Liberal Arts". InThe Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. Retrieved 13 August 2012. "[Renaissance] Humanists, over-fond of change, unjustly condemned the system of the seven liberal arts as barbarous. It is no more barbarous than the Gothic style, a name intended to be a reproach. The Gothic, built up on the conception of the old basilica, ancient in origin, yet Christian in character, was misjudged by the Renaissance on account of some excrescences, and obscured by the additions engrafted upon it by modern lack of taste… That the achievements of our forefathers should be understood, recognized, and adapted to our own needs, is surely to be desired."
Andrew Chrucky (1 September 2003)."The Aim of Liberal Education". "The content of a liberal education should be moral problems as provided by history, anthropology, sociology, economics, and politics. And these should be discussed along with a reflection on the nature of morality and the nature of discussions, i.e., through a study of rhetoric and logic. Since discussion takes place in language, an effort should be made to develop a facility with language."
The Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts. Website about The Wabash Study (for improving liberal education). Sponsored by the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts atWabash College (Indiana), the Wabash Study began in the fall of 2010 – scheduled to end in 2013. Participants include 29 prominent colleges and universities.
Academic Commons[usurped]. An online platform in support of the liberal education community. It is a forum for sharing practices, outcomes, and lessons learned of online learning. Formerly sponsored by the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts, The Academic Commons is hosted by the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education ("NITLE".Archived 2 March 2018 at theWayback Machine).
The Liberal Arts Advantage – for Business. Website dedicated to "Bridging the gap between business and the liberal arts". "A liberal arts education is aimed at developing the ability to think, reason, analyze, decide, discern, and evaluate. That's in contrast to a professional or technical education (business, engineering, computer science, etc.) which develops specific abilities aimed at preparing students for vocations."
Video explanation by Professor Nigel Tubbs of liberal arts curriculum and degree requirements of Winchester University, UK.. "Liberal arts education (Latin:liberalis, free, andars, art or principled practice) involves us in thinking philosophically across many subject boundaries in the humanities, the social and natural sciences, and fine arts. The degree combines compulsory modules covering art, religion, literature, science and thehistory of ideas with a wide range of optional modules. This enables students to have flexibility and control over their programme of study and the content of their assessments."
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