One of the revealing problems in the “classical education movement” is that those involved in it cannot define the term “classical education” in a way that is to be expected from men and women with a classical education. It does not seem that the essence of “classical education” is actually known. It is simply a wildcard used to signify “not modern education”.
In the Classical Liberal Arts Academy, we can define classical education:
Classical education is the formation of the human person by means of the seven liberal arts ordered to the knowledge of causes, for the perfection of the intellect in truth and the will in goodness.
To understand this definition we must examine each of its parts.
First, when we say that “classical education is the formation of the human person”, we identify its genus. Education is a work of formation, that is, the shaping of the human soul. Aristotle and St. Thomas teach that the human person possesses natural powers that must be perfected. These powers are the intellect and the will. The intellect is ordered to the knowledge of truth, and the will is ordered to the choice of the good. This is the pursuit of the two transcendentals: Truth and Goodness.((Note that the addition of “Beauty” as a third transcendental is Platonic and should be avoided because Aristotle proved that it belongs to Goodness.)) To form the human person, therefore, is to cultivate the habits by which a man comes to know rightly and to choose rightly. Education, in this sense, produces not simply a knowledgeable person, but a well-formed human being.
Second, the definition then explains the means by which this formation is accomplished: by the seven liberal arts. These arts developed and have been handed down through history as the disciplines by which the free (liber) human mind is trained. These seven arts are divided into two groups: the Trivium and the Quadrivium. The Trivium consists of three arts: Grammar, Reasoning, and Rhetoric. Grammar is the art of speaking, reading and writing rightly. Reasoning is the art of reasoning rightly. Rhetoric is the art of discovering the means of persuasion available for any subject. The Quadrivium consists of four arts: Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy. Arithmetic is the art of absolutely multitude. Geometry is the art of magnitude at rest. Music is the art of relative multitude. Astronomy is the art of ,agnitude in motion. These arts are called “liberal” because they are fitting for a free man, one who is not trained for utility or labor, but for the exercise of reason itself.
Third, the liberal arts are not ends in themselves, but are ordered to the knowledge of causes. This part of the definition identifies the formal cause of classical education and distinguishes it from other forms of learning. Aristotle teaches that we believe ourselves to know a thing when we know its causes. To know something fully is not to know that it is so, but to understand why it is so. This requires the knowledge of four causes: material, formal, efficient, and final. Classical education does not rest with what is known to us through the senses, but moves beyond them to what is known by nature. The liberal arts serve this higher end by preparing and disciplining the intellect so that it may attain such knowledge.
Fourth, the definition identifies the end of classical education: the perfection of the intellect in truth and the will in goodness. This is the final cause, and it expresses the ultimate purpose for which education exists. The intellect is perfected when it possesses truth. The will is perfected when it is rightly ordered toward the good. The goal of classical education is therefore a perfect man, one whose mind knows the truth and whose life is governed by the good.
Here, we have a complete definition of the term “classical education”.
Mr. William C. Michael, O.P.
Headmaster
Classical Liberal Arts Academy
