Why Study the Liberal Arts

This paper was written from my mind with no reference material.

First we must define what we mean when we say liberal arts. This means many different things to different people. I see the liberal arts as a study of life itself giving you an understanding of who you are and how the world works. A true liberal arts education will cover many subjects such as math, science, literature, history, government, economics, philosophy, art, language and others. A study of the liberal arts is a study of the great minds allowing us to take part of the great debates and attempt to understand where each side is coming from. By studying a large number of subjects and authors we can begin to make connections that are not possible by studying one subject alone.

In The Republic written by Plato there is an allegory of a cave. There are many people chained in a cave and they can only look forward. Behind them there is a passageway and a fire so shadows of those passing on the passageway are cast on the wall in front of the people in chains. The people in chains give names to the shadows and play games of guessing what shapes will come next or guessing what the shadows are. One of these people escapes the chain and begins to work his way to the surface. As he approaches the entrance to the cave he is blinded as he can see the daylight. It takes some time to adjust as he gets closer to the entrance and the light gets brighter. Finally he is able to work his way out of the cave and at first he can only look down at the ground as the sunlight hurts his eyes. Through time and pain he is able to finally adjust and is able to look around and appreciate the world for what it is. He is able to start seeing real objects and has to learn what they are instead of just knowing the shadows of the objects. The more time he spends outside the more he learns about the real world.

He gets excited to share this knowledge with his friends stuck in the cave so he returns to the cave. He begins to tell the people in chains all about this new world and all the new knowledge. As they continue to play the shadow games the free man has lost some skill and does very poorly at these shadow games. He wants to take his friends to the surface but they think he is a crazy man and refuse to go. They don't want to hear what he has to say and drive him away. 

What does this allegory mean to you?

I feel this allegory is a perfect example of a liberal arts education. Through spending the time of getting a good education you are able to see truth and dispel the illusions we build around our selves. Many people will think you are crazy simply because they see their illusions and think the illusions are truth. We build various illusions around ourselves. Our culture and our religion help us see life in a certain way. Our specialties also can create an illusion, for example to a surgeon the solution to most health problems is surgery. Our definition of words may also cloud our judgment or create illusions. We often do not understand lessons or writings because we don't truly understand the words used.

One big illusion in our world is that human nature improves over the generations. It is common to think that our generation is better than the generation that came before us and that as humans we are always improving. This illusion keeps us from learning from the past since we think we are better than those that came before us so as humans we keep making the same mistakes over and over again, never really improving our nature.

By taking time to study the great works left to us by some of the greatest minds in history we are able to quickly learn that humans have been the same for all of written history. Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Romans and Grecians is a great example of this. Plutarch writes about many of the great figures of ancient Greece and Rome. While studying these historic figures and what was going on during this time it is hard to remember you are reading about something that happened around 2000 plus years ago. It seems like it is out of the newspaper today. Many of the issues are the same and the behavior of the people is the same as today. Only the names and places have changed.

Another great example of this is the reading of newspaper articles, sermons, speeches and pamphlets from the founding era of the United States. In many of these writings if you replace the word "London" with "Washington, D.C" then it could easily be in the papers today. The issues and the actions of the people are almost exactly the same. It is difficult to remember these are historical events while reading them because they are so similar to the issues we face today. There are many more examples of this through the great works of history, these are the two that stood out to me the most.

Something I find very interesting in the study of liberal arts is the cycles of history. The cycle I find the most interesting is known as the fourth turning. This cycle is based on generations and repeats about every four generations, or 80 year, and is split into four turnings. The first turning is a rebuilding or recovery cycle, since the fourth turning that just ended was a crisis. The start of the first turning is the low point of this cycle and society spends this turning rebuilding society . This is the time when new institutions are created and new ideas take off. During the second turning those that were young during the first turning begin to challenge the institutions and ways of doing things. The third turning is known as the unraveling. At the start of the third turning society is at its high point but starts its decline. Times seem good but all that was build starts to struggle. The final turning is the fourth turning or the crisis period. This is when a major crisis, or multiple crisis's, hit society and force the people to fight for survival and their way of life.

In the United States we have seen the crisis period three times so far. The first was the Revolutionary War period where monarchy was overthrown and federalism was instituted. The second was the Civil War period in which slavery was abolished but the country also switched from federalism to nationalism. The third crisis was the Great Depression and World War II. During this period we were able to fight back Nazism but our country shifted again from nationalism to globalism. You can see each of the turnings after the last crisis ended. After World War II the country was able to rebuild and became very prosperous.  During the 60s and 70s you saw the start of the second turning as the youth rebelled against the way of doing things. Once we hit the 90s you really could see the third turning. There was a lot of luxury and fun for most people. The focus of life was having a good time. It now appears we are about ten years into the fourth turning or the crisis period which appears to have started with the attacks on the World Trade Centers on 9/11/2001. We have been having some economic issues and the worst part of the crisis still seems to lie ahead.

By studying and understanding this and other cycles it can prepare us for what lies ahead. Most people live by what rules worked in the last turning instead of looking at the current and next turning. The rules change during each turning period so by understanding the cycle and the rules it sets us up to be successful. We can also be prepared for what is coming so it does not have to be a personal crisis even though it may be a major crisis for society as a whole. As we study we can also recognize these cycles and see what worked and what didn't work in the past during the various stages of the cycles. 

By studying liberal arts we have the chance to come face to face with greatness on a daily basis. By studying the words of the great minds we are able to come face to face with these great minds even though they are no long living. Imagine taking part in a discussion between Karl Marx, Adam Smith and Frederic Bastiat or taking part in the debate between the federalists and the anti-federalists on if the Constitution of the United States should be ratified. Imagine sitting across a desk from Adolf Hitler asking him why he did the things he did or living through the communist takeover of China. Imagine taking part in discovering the structure of DNA or walking through Athens having a discussion with Plato or Aristotle.

All of these things are possible because many people spent the time to write down their thoughts or events they experienced. Some of these writings are the life work of an individual. Imagine how much we could learn by studying someone who has spent their entire life studying a subject. By actually taking the time to study we are able to find and experience this greatness. Greatness may be found in a book written 2000 years ago or it may be found in the person sitting next to you. We have the ability to experience the greatest minds in history if we put forth the effort to.

By studying and looking for this greatness you will be able to find the greatness within yourself.  Imagine having Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Jayne Eyre, J. S. Mill, Ezra Taft Benson, Bacon, John Locke among hundreds of others as your role models and mentors. Just as each of these had greatness and made major contributions to the world so can we. Is our purpose on this earth to just get by and enjoy life or do we have a purpose being here? Think of all the great men and women of the world. What made them great? Was is just chance or did they live up to their purpose? By studying the great people we allow ourselves to become great. You often will become what you surround yourself with.  I can't think of better people to surround myself with and to use as role models.

By surrounding ourselves with greatness we can learn some of the greatest human attributes such as honor, self-love and disinterest. You have probably heard these terms, stop a moment and think what each one means to you. Going off of memory I probably won't do these words justice but I'll explain them the best I can. I see honor and self-love as being very similar. Honor is doing what needs done because it is your duty to do it, or on the other side not doing something because it is beneath you. By beneath you I don't mean this as being arrogant or stuck up, but more like taking the high road or not doing something because it would tarnish your character. Self-love is loving yourself enough that you do what is right because it is right. You are comfortable with yourself and don't need the praise of others, though praise can still be appreciated. You also don't feel the need to defend yourself against petty allegations. Since you know who you are and what you stand for you are able to spend your time focusing on your purpose and making the world a better place instead of worrying about what people may think of you. Disinterest is serving your fellow men for the purpose of serving and not for your personal gain or for selfish reasons. Imagine politicians in office truly serving their constituents possibly leaving office poorer and in a worse condition, monetarily speaking,  than when they entered because they truly sacrificed to do their duty. One example of this that stands out to me is Thomas Jefferson who refused to use public funds to entertain guests, even official guests, while he was president. He left office in debt and never fully recovered in his lifetime.

Another lesson we can learn through liberal arts is that greatness is rarely easy but is usually worth it. Think of one of your favorite historical figures, now think of their life and trials. There are very few people who we remember as being great that had an easy life. The reason they are remembered are because they put forth the effort and sacrificed to be great. Though what these people went through was very difficult they are the ones that brought major change to the world. If we want to sit back and be comfortable then we probably will not be able to bring much change to the world.

By studying many different subjects and authors we can begin to make connections that is not possible by a narrow study of a subject. Let's use the Bible for an example. Every time you read this book you will probably get something new out of it but what how else could you get even more out of it by just reading it over and over? One powerful way is to read it from another view such as reading it looking for economic lessons, leadership lessons, or the best way to form a society.  Another powerful way to have a great learning experience is to compare the Bible with other great books. Take time to read St. Matthew from the Bible and Ethics from Aristotle together and compare and contrast them as one example. This can be a very powerful experience once you are able to start making connections. As you start making these connections among various great books you can start to see how related all subjects are and how they all effect each other. All of a sudden the Bible is not just a religious text and math is not just about adding numbers together.

By studying liberal arts not only do we learn great lessons of history and learn from the great minds of history but we also learn basic skills that are useful no matter what we decide to do with life. The biggest skill we learn is how to truly think. Through studies we are exposed to many different ways of life and cannot help but learn how to question and think through many types of issues. We also get to learn how to become better and reading and writing.  Studying how many problems were solved or were attempted to be solved we learn how to become better problem solvers. These basic skills are very powerful and will help us not matter what life throws at us.