the art of education examination of the 7 liberal arts

The Art of Education

Examination of the

7 Liberal Arts

What are the 7 Liberal Arts?

1. Grammar2. Logic3. Rhetoric4. Arithmetic 5. Geometry6. Music7. Astronomy

The Trivium

The Quadrivium

Robert Fludd (1574 – 1637)

Microscopes: 1665 Robert Hooke; 1674 Anton van Leeuwenhoek.

Why the term “Liberal”?

Latin root for ‘liberal’ is: Liberatus = freedom; condition of a free man.

Compare Liberal arts to Servile and Fine arts

Liberal arts - to form a system of thinking that allowed you to educate yourself.

Education Latin educum = to lead, let out, reveal.

Occult Latin occulere = to hide, keep secret, conceal.

Education = the act or process of imparting or acquiring knowledge, developing the process of reasoning and judgment and in general preparing oneself* intellectually for a mature life.

*or others

1. GrammarDiscovering and ordering facts of reality; provides a basic, systematic Knowledge.

e.g. Words, syntax, details.

The Trivium

2. LogicDeveloping the faculty of reason in establishing valid relationships among facts, forming systematic Understanding.

The art of non-contradictory identification.

e.g. Definitions to follow the ‘story’ or directions.

3. RhetoricThe art of speaking or writing persuasively. It is systematically useable knowledge and understanding that generates Wisdom.

e.g. Now explain this to yourself and others.

The Mathematical Theory of Communication

Stimulus

Thinking*

Response

‘Freedom’ exits in this Choice

Grammar

Logic

Rhetoric

Naive = having or showing a lack of experience, judgment or information.

Nescient = not knowing. Due to never having been exposed to the information.

Ignorance = a state of being un-informed. From ignore; information may have been presented yet it has been ignored or denied in terms of incorporation into the world view or perception of an individual.

Fig. 1. Shows the myopic decline in Media Ownership. Source: Ben Bagdikian's "The New Media Monopoly", originally published in 1992, revised in 2004.

The term ‘Propaganda’ was modified to ‘Public Relations’ by Edward Burnays

Fallacy – an error in our thinking process. Common Fallacious Arguments

• Ad Hominem - Character assassination. e.g.

1) poisonous devil’s brew… 2) puts a song in our hearts & laughter on lips…

• False Dichotomy – False dilemma, either-or. e.g.

• If-by-Whiskey Fallacy – to argue either ‘side’ depending on audience: e.g.

• Ad Verecundiam - Appeal to Authority. e.g.

• Cum Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc - False Cause or Circular Consequence. e.g.

According to Bill Gates: Overpopulation is the main reasons for starvation.

However, according to the World Food Program, the list of key causes of world hunger are the following:

1) War – Destroys crops and relief efforts.2) Poverty – Prevents many from purchasing what is available.3) Lack of Infrastructure – No reliable way to transport food to areas that need it.

Note: Overpopulation is not on this list.

Eating fat makes you fat and increases your risk of cardiovascular disease.

Comparison of Molecules (120Kcal each)Sucrose EthanolGlucose

2 slices of bread. 1 glass of orange juice. 1 shot of bourbon.

Sucrose EthanolGlucose2 slices of bread 1 glass of orange juice 1 shot of bourbon

~96 kcal used by all cells in body

~24 kcal hits Liver for Metabolism

Dislipidemia

~24 kcal used by all cells in body

~96 kcal hits Liver for Metabolism

~48 kcal used by all cells in body

~72 kcal hits Liver for Metabolism

↑ Aldehydes ↑ Uric acid ↑ VLDL + ↓NO = ↑BP

↑ Aldehydes ↑ Acetate, ↑ Citrate↑ VLDL

Makes Glycogen

↑ Insulin

60 kcal glucose + 60 kcal fructose

Starch => glucose

Glucose-6-℗ Glucose-6-℗

~0.5 kcal used for de novo Lipogenesis

No effect on Ghrelin ↑ Insulin resistance

CNS Depressant

Inhibits Ghrelin

↑ de novo Lipogenesis ↑ de novo Lipogenesis

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s) is the Answer to World Hunger.

Both Genetically Engineered Seeds and Herbicides Pose Significant Risks to the Environment and Human Health.

e.g. “Seeds of Deception”, by Jeffery Smith (2003).

Grammar the thing as-it-is-symbolized.

Logic the thing as-it-is-known.

Rhetoric the thing as-it-is-communicated.

Answers the: Who, What, Where, and When.

Answers the: Why of a subject.

Answers the: How of a subject.

Schooling ≠ EducationJohn Taylor Gatto: (1990 NY State School teacher of the year; Author)

The 7 Lessons I teach.

1. CONFUSION - I teach the un-relating of everything…

2. CLASS POSITION - If I do my job well, the kids envy and fear the better classes and have contempt for the dumb classes.

3. INDIFFERENCE - The lesson of the bells is that no work is worth finishing, so why care too deeply about anything. They must turn on and off like a light switch.

4. EMOTIONAL DEPENDENCY - By stars and red checks, smiles and frowns, prizes, honors and disgraces I teach kids to surrender their will to the predestined chain of command. Individuality is a curse to all systems of classification.

6. PROVISIONAL SELF-ESTEEM - you know how impossible it is to make self-confident spirits conform. Our world wouldn't survive a flood of confident people very long, so I teach that your self-respect should depend on expert opinion. My kids are constantly evaluated and judged.

7. ONE CAN'T HIDE - I teach children they are always watched, that each is under constant surveillance by myself and my colleagues. There are no private spaces for children, there is no private time.

5. INTELLECTUAL DEPENDENCY - Good people wait for an expert to tell them what to do. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that our entire economy depends upon this lesson being learned.

Schooling ≠ EducationJohn Taylor Gatto: (1990 NY State School teacher of the year; Author)

The 7 Lessons I teach.

Left Brain Functions Right Brain Functions Logic Feeling

Detail Big Picture

Facts Imagination

Words and Language Symbols and Images

Present and Past Present and Future

Math and Science Philosophy and Spirituality

Acknowledges Appreciates

Order/pattern perception Spatial perception

Knows object name Knows object function

Reality based Fantasy based

Forms strategies Presents possibilities

Practical (safe) Impetuous (risks)

Schooling ≠ Education

Double Think

…now for the Quadrivium!

that it pass through bitter trials and tribulations, through the strife of commercial existence. So do we get our light. So all that was great in the past was ridiculed, condemned, combated, suppressed - only to emerge all the more powerfully, all the more triumphantly from the struggle.”

“Humanity is not yet sufficiently advanced to be willingly led by the discoverer’s keen searching sense. But who knows? Perhaps it is better in this present world of ours that a revolutionary idea or invention instead of being helped and patted, be hampered and ill-treated in its adolescence — by want of means, by selfish interest, pedantry, stupidity and ignorance; that it be attacked and stifled;

Nikola Tesla, 1905.

1. Grammar2. Logic3. Rhetoric4. Arithmetic 5. Geometry6. Music7. Astronomy

The Trivium

The Quadrivium

Arithmetic - Number in itself.

Geometry - Number in space.

Music (or Harmonics Theory) - Number in time.

Astronomy (or Cosmology) - Number in space and time.

QUADRIVIUM

Pythagoras Theorem

The 3 tenants of the Trivium.The 4 numeric quantities of the Quadrivium.The 5 senses used to perceive the natural physical world.

The lowest series of whole numbers to express Pythagoras’ Theorem = 3, 4 and 5. These numbers had important significant meaning in the “Pythagorean Brotherhood”.

Pythagoras Theorem

Trivium

Quadrivium

Sensory Perception

Platonic Solids

Euclidean Geometry (integer dimensions), described in lines, ellipses, circles. Fractal Geometry (non-integer dimensions) described in algorithims.

Fractal Geometry

The Golden Ratio

phi

The golden ratio

(1: j, or 1: 1.618)

also relates to

the golden spiral and

the golden rectangle.

Golden Ratio Examples in Human Anatomy

The Vetruvian Man expressed the Canon of Proportions drawn after the Roman architect Vitruvius (born c. 70 BC).

Golden Ratio Examples in Human Anatomy

Golden Spiral - Fibonacci Sequence

The Golden Rectangle - the ratio of the longer side to the shorter is the golden ratio. Ancient architects believed this proportion to be aesthetically pleasing.

The image shows the proportions of the orbit of the Earth and Venus. If the diameter of the Earth's orbit is equal to the diagonal of a square, the orbit of Venus would fit inside such square as shown in the drawing.

Music The science and art of tones or musical sounds.

Sounds of higher or lower pitch, from uniform and synchronous vibrations, as of a string at various degrees of tension.

The science of harmonical tones which treats of the principles of harmony, or the properties, dependences, and relations of tones to each other

Pitch is based primarily on the frequency of vibration

*Currently 440 Hz is concert A. Prior to the 17th century, it was 432 Hz.

In music, longer lengths produce lower pitches, and shorter lengths make higher pitches.

*Place your finger on the string so that only 3/4 of that string vibrates, guitar will play the pitch called F. 

What pitch will you hear if you allow 3/5 of that string to vibrate?

Harmonic Ratio

Cymatics Experiments

icosahedron

Sound, vibration and physical matter

Masaru Emoto’s Water Experiments

Kawachi Folk Dance'Thank you' Heavy Metal Music

String Theory

The smallest “fundamental particles” have little strings that can vibrate in different patterns.

So the difference between one particle and another is simply the note that its string is playing.

Astronomy – the study of celestial objects

Apparent path of the sun as seen from earth

Schumann Resonance

A cycle of approximately 26,000 years is a Great or Platonic Year in astrology.

Frederick Douglass

“I found that to make a contented slave it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision and as far as possible to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery, he must be made to feel that slavery is right and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man.”

‘The Impact of Science on Society’ (1951) by Bertrand Russell. p 50, the intended role of education:

“Education should aim at destroying free will so that after the pupils have left school they shall be incapable throughout the rest of their lives of thinking or acting otherwise than as their school masters would have wished”