David Owen
Chair, Department of Philosophy
“There are three ways that an education in the liberal arts and sciences matters. First, it gives us a greater capacity for understanding ourselves. Second, it expands our understanding of the natural and social worlds and our relationship to both. And third, it provides the sorts of knowledge and skills for the kinds of intellectual and skillful creativity, responsiveness, and adaptability that will be an advantage in a globalized, dynamic, and rapidly changing, economy. In short, a liberal arts education lays the foundation to a collectively fulfilling form of human life.”
The core value of a liberal arts education can be found in the origins of the concept itself. The idea of the liberal arts originates in the ancient Greek polis where it referred to the kind of education that was necessary to enable a free person to participate actively in the civic life of the polis. To be sure, at this time only property-owning men were considered to be free persons. Nonetheless, the origin of the concept establishes the essential connection of a liberal arts education with liberty or freedom – the liberal arts are meant to make it possible for us to become reflective and engaged members of our community. Studying the liberal arts establishes the foundation for living a collective human life with others in a way that maximizes our individual and collective human potentials.
While the meaning of the concept of the liberal arts points us to its essential connection to liberty and a fulfilled life, it does not say much about how a liberal arts education matters and why it might matter to us today. I think there are three ways that an education in the liberal arts and sciencesmatters. First, it gives us a greater capacity for understanding ourselves. Cultivation of a moral self is a central function of a liberal arts education. The study of philosophy, history, and literature in particular provide means for individuals to reflect on what it means to be human and how we as moral persons can realize human excellence.
But we do not live our lives in a vacuum – we thrive as individuals only in and through our essential connections both to each other and to nature. Thus, a second way that a liberal arts education matters is by expanding our understanding of the natural and social worlds and our relationship to both. This includes cultivating our capacities for reflecting on our connections to the world, and for critically engaging that world. We are who we are because of the social and natural contexts in which we live, and these contexts produce both the content and the challenges of our existence. The study of anthropology, sociology, physics, mathematics, and chemistry, for example, expand our understanding of the social and natural worlds in which we live. A liberal arts education gives us the ability to critically engage the many natural and social challenges we face and to develop creative and thoughtful solutions that uplift our humanity while allowing us to thrive.
So far, I have discussed the value of a liberal arts education in terms of how it liberates the human spirit by cultivating a capacity for reflective engagement with our humanity and our world. But these days, many want to know what the ‘cash value’ is of such an education. In other words, what are the career benefits of a liberal arts education? A third way that a liberal arts education matters is that it provides the sorts of knowledge and skills for the kinds of intellectual and skillful creativity, responsiveness, and adaptability that will be an advantage in a globalized, dynamic, rapidly changing, economy. Thus, a liberal arts education does not simply prepare one for the workplace of today, but for the workplace of tomorrow.
A liberal arts education provides the foundations of liberation, of living a life that is reflective, engaged, creative, and fulfilling. Although perceived by some to be in decline, the need for the liberal arts perhaps is greater now than ever. We face significant social, political, environmental, and economic challenges at the start of the 21st century. The liberal arts provide the knowledge, capacities, and skills by which we can collectively fashion creative, just, and effective solutions to the many challenges we face. In short, a liberal arts education lays the foundation to a collectively fulfilling form of human life.
