Leonardo, Vitruvian Man, 1490
When properly conceived and taught, the liberal arts do not
by themselves make us “better people” or (God knows) more “human.” They don’t
exist to make us more “liberal,” at least in the contemporary political sense.
But the liberal arts can do something no less wonderful: They can open our
eyes.
They show us how to look at the world and the works of civilization in serious and important and even delightful ways. They hold out the possibility that we will know better the truth about many of the most important things. They are the vehicle that carries the amazing things that mankind has made—and the memory of the horrors that mankind has perpetrated—from one age to the next. They teach us how to marvel.
They show us how to look at the world and the works of civilization in serious and important and even delightful ways. They hold out the possibility that we will know better the truth about many of the most important things. They are the vehicle that carries the amazing things that mankind has made—and the memory of the horrors that mankind has perpetrated—from one age to the next. They teach us how to marvel.
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