ARTS
764
ARTS
added a "Speculum Historiale" which was simply a
universal history.
For the academic development of the AHes it was of importance that the universities accepted them as a part of their curricula. Among their ordines, or faculties, the ordo artistamm, afterwards called the faculty of philosophy, was fundamental: Universitas fimdatur in artibus It furnished the preparation not only for the Ordo Theologorum, but also for the Ordo Legistarum, or law faculty, and the Ordo Physicorurti , or medical faculty. Of the methods of teaching and the continued study of the arts at the universities of the fifteenth century, the text-book of the contemporary Carthusian, Gregory Reisch, Confessor of the Emperor Maximil- ian I, gives us a clear picture. He treats in twelve books: (I) of tlie Rudiments of Grammar; (II) of the Principles of Logic; (III) of the Parts of an Ora- tion; (IV) of Memory, of Letter-writing, and of Arithmetic; (V) of the Principles of Music; (VI) of the Elements of Geometry; (VII) of the Principles of Astronomy; (VIII) of the Principles of Natural Things; (IX) of the Origin of Natural Things; (X) of the Soul; (XI) of the Powers; (XII) of the Principles of Moral Philosophy. — The illustrated edition printed in 1512 at Strasburg has for appen- di.x: the elements of Greek literature, Hebrew, figured music and architecture, and some technical instruction (Graecarum Litterarum Institutiones, Hebraicarum Litterarum Rudimenta, Musicse Fig- urata; Institutiones, Architecturae Rudimenta).
At the universities the Artes, at least in a formal way, held their place up to modern times. At Oxford, Qtieen Mary (1553-58) erected for them colleges whose inscriptions are significant, thus: "Graramatica, Litteras disce"; "Rhetorica persuadet mores"; "Dialectica, Imposturas fuge"; "Arithmet- ica. Omnia numeris constant"; "Musica, Ne tibi dissideas"; "Geometria, Cura quae domi sunt"; "Astronomia, Altiora ne quaesieris". The title "Master of the Liberal Arts" is still granted at some of the universities in connection with the Doctorate of Philosophy; in England that of "Doctor of Music" is still in re;;;ular use. In practical teaching, how- ever, the system of the Artes has declined since the sixteenth century. The Renaissance saw in the technique of style (eloquenlia) and in its mainstay, erudition, the ultimate object of collegiate educa- tion, thus following the Roman rather than the Greek system. Grammar and rhetoric came to be the chief elements of the preparatory studies, while the sciences of the Quadrivium were embodied in the miscellaneous learning (eruditio) associated with rhetoric. In Catholic higher schools philosophy remained as the intermediate stage between philo- logical studies and professional studies; while ac- cording to the Protestant scheme philosophy was taken over (to the university) as a Faculty subject. The Jesuit schools present the following gradation of studies: grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, and, since philosophy begins with logic, this system retains also the ancient dialectic.
In the erudite studies spoken of above, must be sought the germ of the encyclopedic learning which grew unceasingly during the seventeenth century. Amos Comenius (d. 1071), the best known repre- sentative of this tendency, who sought in his "Orbis Pictus" to make this diminutive encyclopedia (en- cyctopadiola) the basis of the earliest grammatical in.struetion, speaks contemptuously of "tho.se liberal arts so much talked of, the knowledge of which the common people believe a master of pliilosophy to acquire thoroughly", and proudly declares, ^Our men rise to greater height". (Magna Didactica, XXX, 2.) His school classes are the following: gram- mar, physics, mathematics, ethics, dialectic, and rhetoric. In the eighteenth century undergraduate
studies take on more and more the encyclopedic
character, and in the nineteenth century the class
system is replaced by the department system, in
which the various subjects are treated simultaneously
with little or no reference to their gradation; in this
way the principle of the Artes is finally surrendered.
Where, moreover, as in the (hjmnasia of Germany,
philosophy has been dropped from the course of
studies, miscellaneous erudition becomes in principle
an end unto itself. Nevertheless, present educa-
tional systems preserve traces of the older
systematic arrangement (language, mathematics,
philosophy). In the early years of his Gymiuisium
course the youth must devote his time and energy
to the study of languages, in the middle years,
principally to mathematics, and in his last years,
when he is called upon to express his own thoughts,
he begins to deal with logic and dialectic, even if
it be only in the form of composition. He is there-
fore touching upon philosophy. This gradation
which works its own way, so to speak, out of the
present chaotic condition of learned studies, should
be made systematic; the fundamental idea of the
Artes Liberates would thus be revived.
The Platonic idea, therefore, that we should ad- vance gradually from sense-perception by way of intellectual argumentation to intellectual intuition, is by no means antiquated. Mathematical instruc- tion, admittedly a preparation for the study of logic, could only gain if it were conducted in this spirit, if it were made logically clearer, if its technical content were reduced, and if it were followed by logic. The express correlation of mathematics to astronomy, and to musical theory, would bring about a wholesome concentration of the mathematico- physical sciences, now threatened with a plethora of erudition. The insistence of older WTiters upon the organic character of the content of instruction, deserves earnest consideration. For the purpose of concentration a mere packing together of uncorre- lated subjects will not suffice; their original connec- tion and dependence must be brought into clear consciousness. Hugo's admonition also, to dis- tinguish between hearing (or learning, properly so called) on the one hand, and practice and invention on the other, for which there is good opportunity in grammar and mathematics, deserves attention. Equally important is his demand that the details of the subject taught be weighed — trutinare, from truiina, the goldsmith's balance. This gold balance has been used far too sparingly, and, in consequence, education has suffered. A short-sighted realism threatens even the various branches of language instruction. Efforts are made to restrict grammar to the vernacular, and to banish rhetoric and logic except so far as they are applied in composition. It is, therefore, not useless to remember the "keys". In every department of instruction method must have in view the series: induction, based on sen- suous perception; deduction, guided also by percep- tion, and abstract deduction — a series which is identical with that of Plato. All understanding im- plies these three grades; we first understand the meaning of what is said, we next understand infer- ences drawn from sense perception, and lastly we understand dialectic conclusions. Invention has also three grades: we find words, we find the solution of problems, we find thoughts. Grammar, mathe- matics, and logic likewise form a systematic series. The grammatical system is empirical, the mathe- matical rational and constructive, and the logical rational and speculative (cf. O. Willmann, Didak- tik, II, 67). Humanists, over-fond of change, un- justly condemned the system of the seven liberal arts as barbarous. It is no more barbarous than tlie Gothic style, a name intended to be a reproach. The Gothic, built up on the conception of the old
