The liberal arts and Plato's relation to them

pp. 93-112

in: Edward Ballard, Philosophy and the liberal arts, Berlin, Springer, 1989

Abstract

The liberal arts, as they developed in the early and late Middle Ages and came to be regarded as the proper training for philosophy, began their career in Plato's dialogues. The course of education outlined in Republic VII (527–34; 535–41) anticipates with prescient accuracy the seven arts, especially the quadrivium, of later history. The dialogue is intended to educate the young Glau-con, who actually had political ambitions in Athens, and is directed toward making him philosopher-king over himself before he insinuates himself into kingship over others. And the Phaedrus, ostensibly about rhetoric, in reality is concerned with all three arts of the trivium. It discusses three sample speeches in an extraordinary dialogic framework and in effect identifies Phaedrus as a young artist who could become skilled in driving the two psychic horses of his soul. Then the dialogue turns to reflect upon the art which produced these speeches and elaborates a good deal of what would later be called the trivium. It ends with a bit of dialectic which further identifies Phaedrus' rational nature. In addition, in both of these dialogues — as well as in others — analogy occupies a central place. Plato's creative use of analogy was not lost, I want to emphasize, upon later liberal artists.