The Liberal Arts

Liberal. Liberty. Ad libe.

What to say to those who disparage the liberal arts? Are we to disparage their thought-modes in return?

I will try to attempt to answer the question, 'What is the purpose of the liberal arts?' in this blog post.

1) liberal: willing to respect or accept behavior or opinions different from one’s own; open to new ideas: liberal views towards divorce
2) liberal: favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs
3) liberalism: a political ideology or worldview founded on the ideas of liberty and equality

Above are three definitions of liberal(ism). Perhaps liberal arts would be related to the humanities, or the study of it. Liberals are willing to respect or accept behavior or opinions that are different from theirs. By this definition, conservatives are also liberals. In my life experience, many conservatives are open to other views; not all Republicans hate Obama or the idea of gay marriage. Yet, not all Democrats love Obama or the idea of gay marriage. What is your view toward divorce? Could it be possible for to understand that debates regarding marriage are at least as old as Milton, who wrote the Divorce Tracts? Second definition. Favorable to progress or reform. Hopefully we are not so ideological as to think Republicans are holding our country back or that they disfavor progress or reform. Many desire to reform the government; ‘progress is a separate issue altogether that I may address in future posts. Political ideology or worldview that is founded on the ideas of liberty and equality. What does that mean? If we are talking about worldviews, this third definition seems to be the one that most people strive (or should strive) toward. How about political ideology? This fancy term is a combination of 'politics'  and 'ideology.' If ideology is inescapable, then is politics? Politics is related to polity, which is a geographical area with a specific unit of government. Given these three definitions of "liberal" and "liberalism," what do we conclude about the liberal arts? Liberal arts, or the study of them, promises to free you. It promises to free you from the kind of ideology that will attempt to spoil your ability to think freely and live well. But as any doctoral student in the humanities will tell you, only you can free yourself. Kant can’t do it. Mill can’t do it. Locke or Rousseau or Hobbes or Rawls or any other philosopher cannot free you from the modes of thinking that threaten to entrap you in solipsism. Undo the chains of capitalism. Undo the chains of socialism, of communism, of Marxism. Read them, read Adam Smith and Hegel and his impossible-to-ignore counterpart. Decide for yourself. No ‘ism’ will capture how uniquely you think. And once you have, free yourself. Free yourself from the old, but don’t kid yourself that you’re saying or will say anything new. Not that you have to read. The real fallacy is that the liberal arts are only accessible through books. No. You are the liberal arts. You become you through them.