What's "Liberal" Anyway?: A Not-So-Boring History of the Liberal Arts

Arty Blau dives into the delightfully deceptive depths of the term "liberal arts." Once upon a time, it was a VIP pass-Roman style-for society's well-heeled, focusing not just on arts but on cultivating the crème de la crème of civic minds. Join him as he traces its journey from elite Roman nurseries to today's democratic digital classrooms, proving that the liberal arts are less about ancient exclusivity and more about a boundless, modern mélange of knowledge.
00:00 The Roman Context: What Did "Liberal" and "Arts" Really Mean?
01:21 The True Art in Liberal Arts: Training for the Heavyweight Championship of Public Affairs
02:07 The Medieval Curriculum: Trivium and Quadrivium
02:32 Today's Liberal Arts: An All-Access Pass to Knowledge
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SOURCES
Michele Savonarola, DEL FELICE PROGRESSO DI BORSO D’ESTE, early 1450s, referenced in Patricia A. Emison, CREATING THE “DIVINE” ARTIST: FROM DANTE TO MICHELANGELO, Brill, Leiden, Boston, 2004. The Italian quote reads “perché non poteano a tempo antico in quelle studiare nomà i fioli de li homini zintili e liberi,” which can be more literally translated as “because in ancient times only the sons of noble and free men could study them."

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But yes, it is about this, too.