Dear Gunnar, 
  
On the chance that Joe missed a comment on this specific point, I'm going 
to repost part of an earlier note. 
  
There is no connection between the two uses of the word "liberal." 
  
The term liberal has several meanings in politics, ranging from what 
involves minimal government engagement in private-sector affairs. It is in 
this sense that Adam Smith's economic vision was "liberal," as was Hayek's 
vision or Coase's. In other places, the term may mean quite the opposite, 
referring to government intervention in economic policies. It is in this 
sense that Keynes's vision was liberal, as was Franklin Delano 
Roosevelt's. The term has several meanings, depending on the nation, era, 
and context. 
  
Liberal education is something else. It has nothing to do with economic 
policy, nor with relativism. I'm posting this note again because I would 
hate to see us go down a slippery road debating issues that require 
careful, long notes for clarity and precise meaning. 
  
The term "liberal education" involves education related to or based on the 
liberal arts. The liberal arts are those fields of study that derive from 
the medieval trivium and quadrivium. The trivium consisted of grammar, 
rhetoric, and logic. The quadrivium was comprised of arithmetic, music, 
geometry, and astronomy. The idea of the seven arts was a form of learning 
that prepared the educated person for a life of public participation in 
the community as an educated citizen. Liberal education led to a 
bachelor's degree. Following the bachelor's degree in the liberal arts, 
one might move on to professional studies in such fields as law, medicine 
or theology. Or, these days, design or engineering. 
  
Today, a liberal education involves studies in such liberal arts as 
literature or language, philosophy, the sciences, history, or mathematics 
in a college or research university. The purpose of liberal arts study is 
developing the character and intellect. 
  
The primary distinction here involves the distinction between the liberal 
arts and professional training for vocational skills. 
  
Joe's note on relativism demonstrates the fact that he has not been 
reading much in the liberal arts. The foremost advocates of liberal 
education have often been strong critics of moral or epistemological 
relativism. A liberal education gives one the knowledge and skill to place 
issues in context. To understand something, one must see it in a 
contextual and relational framework. This does not mean that one adopts 
a "relativist" position. 
  
As far as I am concerned, Joe got off on the wrong foot conflating these 
two meanings of the word "liberal." The word that looks and sounds the 
same, but it has different meanings. There is no connection between these 
two uses of the word. 
  
The complaint that Joe echoed in an earlier post had to do with the 
complaint that some faculty members at North American universities are 
supposedly biased toward political liberalism. Whether this is true or 
not -- and I'd argue that it may not be so in North America today -- has 
nothing to do with the liberal arts. The supposed biases occur across all 
faculties including the professional schools. And many traditional liberal 
arts faculties are home to political conservatives as well as anti-
relativists (who may not be politically conservative). 
  
This thread mixes apples, oranges, cheese, and chalk. 
  
Stating the kinds of sweeping claims that Joe offers requires clarity and 
substantiation. Not to mention a look at John Dewey, Isaiah Berlin, Robert 
Hutchins, Allan Bloom, and a few others of different political persuasions 
yet all dedicated to the importance of the liberal arts. 
  
Ken Friedman 


On Mon, 26 Feb 2007 21:53:44 -0500, Swanson, Gunnar < [log in to unmask] > 
wrote: 
>Dr. Joseph Chiodo wrote on Mon 2/26/2007 9:37 PM: 
>>  My point was that yes, there is a connection. 
>> 
>>  Chris Rust < [log in to unmask] > wrote: 
>>> Is there ANY 
>>> relationship between the two concepts of "liberal 
>>> politics" and "liberal education"? 
> 
>Joe, 
> 
>Will you be more specific? What exactly is the connection between the two 
uses of the word "liberal"? 
> 
>Gunnar