User:Jakobkatchem/Trivium

Lead
Original Lead:

This article is about the educational syllabus. For bits of information and data that are of little value, see trivia. For the band, see Trivium (band). For other uses, see Trivium (disambiguation).

The trivium is the lower division of the seven liberal arts and comprises grammar, logic, and rhetoric.

The trivium is implicit in De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii ("On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury") by Martianus Capella, but the term was not used until the Carolingian Renaissance, when it was coined in imitation of the earlier quadrivium. Grammar, logic, and rhetoric were essential to a classical education, as explained in Plato's dialogues. The three subjects together were denoted by the word trivium during the Middle Ages, but the tradition of first learning those three subjects was established in ancient Greece. Contemporary iterations have taken various forms, including those found in certain British and American universities (some being part of the Classical education movement) and at the independent Oundle School in the United Kingdom.

Updated Lead:

''This article discusses the Trivium as it pertains to education. For Trivia, or bits of information and data that are of little value, see trivia. For the band, see Trivium (band). For other uses, see Trivium (disambiguation).''

The trivium is the lower division of the seven liberal arts and is comprised of grammar, logic, and rhetoric.

The trivium is implicit in De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii ("On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury") by Martianus Capella, but the term was not formally used until the Carolingian Renaissance, when it was coined in relation of the earlier quadrivium.

The trivium, in addition to the quadrivium, formed the seven liberal arts that were held by classical antiquity as the essential skills and teachings of a free person (liberalis, "worthy of a free person") an individual should acquire to actively participate in civic life. Civic life was greatly developing during this period and would entail participating in public debate, defending oneself in court, serving on juries, and participating in military service. Although the quadrivium may have appeared prior to the arts of the trivium, by the Middle Ages it had become standard practice to teach the arts of the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) prior to the arts of the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy).

Contemporary iterations have taken various forms, including those found in certain British and American universities (some being part of the Classical education movement) and at the independent Oundle School in the United Kingdom.

Changes:

1) Changes to improve clarity.

2) Additional links to germane information.

3) Inclusion of why the skills were 'essential' during classical antiquity.

Etymology
Original Etymology:

Etymologically, the Latin word trivium means "the place where three roads meet" (tri + via); hence, the subjects of the trivium are the foundation for the quadrivium, the upper division of the medieval education in the liberal arts, which consists of arithmetic (numbers as abstract concepts), geometry (numbers in space), music (numbers in time), and astronomy (numbers in space and time). Educationally, the trivium and the quadrivium imparted to the student the seven liberal arts of classical antiquity.

Updated Etymology: [No changes necessary]

Description
Original Description:

Grammar teaches the mechanics of language to the student. This is the step where the student "comes to terms," defining the objects and information perceived by the five senses. Hence, the Law of Identity: a tree is a tree, and not a cat.

Logic (also dialectic) is the "mechanics" of thought and of analysis, the process of composing sound arguments and identifying fallacious arguments and statements and so systematically removing contradictions, thereby producing factual knowledge that can be trusted.

Rhetoric is the application of language in order to instruct and to persuade the listener and the reader. It is the knowledge (grammar) now understood (logic) and being transmitted outwards as wisdom (rhetoric).

Aristotle defined Rhetoric as, "the power of perceiving in every thing that which is capable of producing persuasion."

Sister Miriam Joseph, in The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric (2002), described the trivium as follows: "Grammar is the art of inventing symbols and combining them to express thought; logic is the art of thinking; and rhetoric is the art of communicating thought from one mind to another, the adaptation of language to circumstance."

. . .

"Grammar is concerned with the thing as-it-is-symbolized. Logic is concerned with the thing as-it-is-known. Rhetoric is concerned with the thing as-it-is-communicated." John Ayto wrote in the Dictionary of Word Origins (1990) that study of the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) was requisite preparation for study of the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy). For the medieval student, the trivium was the curricular beginning of the acquisition of the seven liberal arts; as such, it was the principal undergraduate course of study. The word trivial arose from the contrast between the simpler trivium and the more difficult quadrivium.

Updated Description:

Grammar teaches the mechanics of language to the student. This is the step where the student "comes to terms," defining the objects and information perceived by the five senses. Hence, the Law of Identity: a tree is a tree, and not a cat.

Logic (also dialectic) is the "mechanics" of thought and of analysis, the process of composing sound arguments and identifying fallacious arguments and statements and so systematically removing contradictions, thereby producing factual knowledge that can be trusted.

Rhetoric is the application of language in order to instruct and to persuade the listener and the reader. It is the knowledge (grammar) now understood (logic) and being transmitted outwards as wisdom (rhetoric).

Aristotle defined Rhetoric as, "the power of perceiving in every thing that which is capable of producing persuasion."

Sister Miriam Joseph, in The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric (2002), described the trivium as follows:"Grammar is the art of inventing symbols and combining them to express thought; logic is the art of thinking; and rhetoric is the art of communicating thought from one mind to another, the adaptation of language to circumstance."John Ayto wrote in the Dictionary of Word Origins (1990) that study of the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) was requisite preparation for study of the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy). For the medieval student, the trivium was the curricular beginning of the acquisition of the seven liberal arts; as such, it was the principal undergraduate course of study. The word trivial arose from the contrast between the simpler trivium and the more difficult quadrivium.

Changes:

1) Corrected punctuation (quotes)

2) Shortened extensive quotes

3) Linked relevant wiki-articles (John Ayto)