Quote of the Day | July 27, 2008: The Arts

From Jacques Barzun's From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present.

As for the arts curriculum, its meaning also differed from what we know under the name. Art meant know-how, techne, as in our "mechanical arts." The "liberal" ones were for free men and prerequisite to teaching, to serving the government, or simply to leading the life of the mind. There was a growing body of "intellectuals" who were not in the church or the professions. The arts they studied were seven -- four and three: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music; grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Bachelor, master, and doctor expressed the degree of qualification attained. In the separate grouping of subjects the primacy of science is already evident. From the mix came the modern notion, now in decline, that the liberal arts provide any future leader in civilian life or government with what his duties will require. After changing some of the contents to keep up-to-date. England as nation and empire thrived for a century and a half on that understanding.

Tags: Jacques Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence