The first knowledge we have of any thing is the delight we take in our senses when we encounter the thing (i.e., an artifact, idea, text, etc.). Before we ever analyze the thing, we first recognize that we are aware, in some rudimentary way, that a desire is being satisfied (i.e, the use of one or more of one’s senses). This, says Aristotle, is how we know that mankind, distinct from the animals, desires to …
Category: On Teaching
There is a process of inquiry that is indispensable for unearthing human knowledge and only the person whose mental habits conform to this process can be called educated in a classical or universal sense, says David Hicks. This process basically consists of three parts: General curiosity—asking a wide range of questions Forming hypotheses—exercising one’s imagination in forming hypotheses Testing hypotheses—Discover a method of testing the consistency of the hypothesis with known facts “This bend of …
Aristotle followed Plato, was his student, in fact. And he joined his teacher is asserting the music was a necessary part of one’s education because it teaches one how to use leisure nobly and it forms a certain character in the soul of the participant. He says, There are perhaps four customary subjects of education, reading and writing, gymnastics, music, and fourth, with some people, drawing; reading and writing and drawing being taught as being …
Throughout the Classical period and all the way up until the Age of Enlightenment, prerational knowledge was not only viewed as legitimate but essential to “the psychosomatic dimensions of the human being.”((James Taylor, Poetic Knowledge, 16)) This is why Plato, through his character Socrates, asserts the need to regulate the education of the guardians. Since character was the chief goal of education in Greek thought, it would be especially important to monitor the music (i.e., …
In a recent post, Seth Godin wrote about the misconception of quality being the result of effort. He states, Quality is defined as consistently meeting spec. A measurable promise made and kept. Effort is what happens when we go beyond our normal speed. When we dig deep and exert physical or emotional labor and focus on something that is out of the ordinary. Effort is the opposite of coasting. Often we’re taught that quality is …
Classical Education is not, preeminently, of a specific time or place. It stands instead for a spirit of inquiry and form of instruction concerned with the development of style through language and of conscience through myth. The key word here is inquiry. -David V. Hicks, Norms & Nobility …