An Introduction to the Trivium
“The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead.” - Aristotle
Grammar, logic, and rhetoric: these three pillars form the trivium. Latin for “where the three roads meet,” the trivium is the foundation of the seven liberal arts paramount to quality classical education. Additionally, these elements form the basis through which we define the world around us through language, come to the logical conclusions that guide the courses of our lives, and communicate these definitions and ideas effectively to the outside world. The necessity of these subjects is apparent, and daily we see the harm found in their absence. We see current generations, both young and old, struggling to communicate clearly, reason effectively, and resort to frustration and outbursts when they feel they are unheard. For the Greeks and other classical educators, these were the essential elements required for a sound education, and yet they have tragically fallen out of favor for many of our educational institutions. Daily, it seems, we are choosing to turn away from our great intellectual and academic inheritance, which is to our great detriment. The trivium and classical education are due a renaissance and will be the subject of the next series of essays.
Grammar
This is best defined as the mechanics of language. How one should communicate and what structural constraints or limitations are placed upon how we use the written or spoken word. It forms the methods we develop our ideas using phrases, clauses, and words. Grammar inevitably evolves over the course of a language, but the grasp of the rules and constraints of a standard dialect aid in our capacity for understanding and being understood. Additionally, grammar forms the framework through which we ‘come to terms’ with and perceive the world through our five senses. We can arrive at the conclusion that a tree is a tree and not a rock or that blue is blue and not red. It is how we arrive at knowledge and codify the many things that occupy the world around us. It is a fundamental and universal element of the human condition but requires no less effort to master effectively.
Logic
Logic is simply defined as the mechanics of thought and the analytical process. It is the science and art of how we construct arguments and abstract positions and how we identify faulty conclusions and fallacious arguments. Here is how we come to terms with the knowledge that language and grammar provide us. It is how we draw our conclusions and chart the course of our lives through these conclusions. For the Greeks and our purposes, it is the process that we engage in so that we might arrive at the truth and, if not the truth, something closer to it. This process can happen internally or externally, but the ultimate aim is the arrival at the truth.
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of using language to communicate and persuade. Rhetoric in this context should view this separately from the modern pejorative term that implies persuasion without knowledge and empty words so often found in our political and public spheres. In its purest form, Rhetoric is the practical expression of sound logical arguments or conclusions through mastery of language and grammar. Aristotle posited that there were three approaches to art rhetoric: ethos, pathos, and logos. What is derided as a tool for vapid and vain politicians is truly a bastardization of classical ideals that have been co-opted and misused for personal or political gain.
“Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people.” - John Adams
Ultimately, the return to the primacy of these three pillars of classical education is what we require. It is necessary to maintain our democracy and our individual liberties. We do not need new, poorly defined ideas when we have a bedrock of great intellectual work to draw from. Kant could not have existed without the works of Plato and Aristotle. It is the height of our egotism to think that we can create a better or more novel approach to the arrival and communication of truth than these intellectual titans. Our efforts should seek to evolve them, not destroy or bastardize them with the intent to surpass them