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The Seven Liberal Arts

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  1. Lessons

    Lesson 1: Why the Seven Liberal Arts are "Liberal" and "Arts" (Preview Content)
    4 Topics
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    1 Quiz
  2. Lesson 2: Why the Seven Liberal Arts are "Liberating" (Preview Content)
    4 Topics
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    1 Quiz
  3. Lesson 3: The Seven Liberating Arts
    3 Topics
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    1 Quiz
  4. Lesson 4: The History of the Seven Liberal Arts
    3 Topics
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    1 Quiz
  5. Lesson 5: The Trivium Arts
    3 Topics
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    1 Quiz
  6. Lesson 6: The Quadrivium Arts
    3 Topics
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    1 Quiz
  7. Lesson 7: Teaching the Quadrivium Like We Aren't Materialists
    2 Topics
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    1 Quiz
  8. Lesson 8: Discussion of Harmony, Pedagogy and Assessment of the Arts
    1 Topic
  9. Lesson 9: Discussion of the Arts as Liberating Arts
    1 Topic
  10. End of Course Test
    End of Course Test: The Seven Liberal Arts
    1 Quiz
Lesson Progress
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Socrates “True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.” Socrates, who died in 399 BC, witnessed the decline of Athens. Socrates believed that knowable truth exists, and he sought to discover truth through questioning.

In this lecture, Andrew Kern discusses the Socratic Dialectic, a free-flowing preparatory form of logic that uses questioning to seek truth. Socrates developed this method of questioning after witnessing the decline of Athens, following Athens’ defeat in 404 BC at the end of the Peloponnesian War. Seeking answers, Socrates visited the Delphic Oracle and learned that he was the wisest man in the world. The prospect of this overwhelmed him, and he returned to Athens. Once there, he questioned everyone he met, from ox-cart makers to authorities, hoping to find someone wiser than himself. However, he found others unwise, as they believed themselves wise while he recognized how much he did not know. To gain wisdom once more and save his Athens, Socrates adopted a method of questioning founded on the belief that knowable truth exists.

Use this logic skill of asking questions with your own students and yourself! When a student makes a false statement, or when you recognize discord in your own thought process, do the following:

  1. Make a statement.
  2. Ask questions that expose the inconsistencies in the argument.
  3. Continue to ask questions that rebuild harmony and truth.
  4. Once the truth is reached, continue asking questions. As Andrew Kern says, “there is no limit for how far into truth we can press.”

Socrates’ opinions and methods met with critique and condemnation. In 399 BC, a jury of Athenians sentenced Socrates to death, and he died by drinking hemlock poison.

Bust of Socrates, from the Vatican Museum