Chapter 1 

 

The Liberal Arts 

 

 

Reading this book open mi mind to learn a lot more about what Liberal Arts is. All the time I listen my friends of the Michael Polanyi College mentions about The Trivium but when I really understand the purpose of it is in the process of reading this incredible book. 

 

 

Sister Miriam Joseph in this chapter mention " The Trivium" as an instrument or organon of the levels of education and how the arts of communication are based in the arts of: 

 

1) Logic: The art of thinking

2) Grammar: The art of inventing symbols and combining them to express thought.

3)Rethoric: art of communicating thought from one mind to another, the adaptation of language to circumstance.

 

Quadrivium: The four arts of quantity pertaining to matter.

 

Discrete quantity or number

 

1)Arithmetic theory of number

2)Music application of the theory of number.

 

Continuous quantity

 

3)Geometry theory of space

4) Astronomy application of the theory of space

 

Sister Miriam explain the improtance of why liberal arts education and the distinguised from the servile or utalitarian arts.  ​

​

Comparison of Materials, Functions, and Norms of the Language Arts

 

-Phonetics

-Spelling

-Grammar

-Rethoric

-Logic 

 

 

Quotes that are importants for me: 

 

"The Trivium is the organon, or instrument, of all education at all levels because the arts of logic, grammar, and rhetoric are the arts of communication itself in that they govern the means of communication—namely, reading, writing, speaking, and listening"

 

"The function of the trivium is the training of the mind for the study of matter and spirit, which together constitute the sum of reality."

 

"Wisdom is knowledge of ultimate causes—metaphysics in the natural order, theology in the supernatural order. Prudence is right reason about something to be done. Art is right reason about something to be made."

 

 

Chapter 2

The Nature and Function of Language

 

 

In this chapter Miriam Joseph start being mores specifically with the nature of language as the way of communication. This by using the tools of Grammar.

 

 

The function of language is threefold:

 

 

-To communicate thought

-Volition,

- Emotion.

 

 

Communication by

 

-Imitation

or Symbols.

 

 

Symbols:

 

-Temporary

-Permanent

-Special

-Common

 

 

 

Forms of language

 

 

Essence : is what makes a being what it is.

 

Species: is a class made up of individuals that have in common the same specific essence

 

Genus: is a wider class made up of two or more different species.

 

Aggregate:  is a group consisting of two or more individuals.

 

 

The categories of being:

 

Substance

Quantity

Quality

Relation

Action

Passion

When

Where

Posture

Habiliment

 

 

Subcategories:

 

 

Predicate is in the subject itself

Predicate exists in the subject

Predicate exists in something extrinsic to the subject

 

 

 

Ambiguity arising from the nature of phantasm:

 

“Phantasm is a mental image of an object or objects outside the mind”

 

 

 

Quotes

“A given notation is ambiguous when it symbolizes different meanings, whether in the same or in different languages”

 

 

Logic: is concerned only with operations of the intellect, with rational cognition, not with volition nor with the emotions.

 

 

Grammar: gives expression to all states of mind or soul—cognitive, volitive, emotional—in sentences that are statements, questions, wishes, prayers, commands, exclamations. In this sense, grammar has a wider scope than logic; and so does rhetoric, which communicates all these to other minds.

 

 

Rhetoric: judges which one of a number of equivalent grammatical symbols for one idea is best for communication in the given circumstance.

 

 

A symbol is an arbitrary sensible sign having meaning imposed on it by convention. (A concept is not arbitrary.)

 

Language has a logical and a psycological dimensión. 

 

 

Chapter 3

General Grammar

 

The true copula, for instance, becomes, is a true copula and a true verb. For example: The green leaves become yellow. (1)Becomes is a true verb because it expresses an attribute along with the notion of time.

 

The     pseudocopula_is_a_true_verb_and_expresses_sense-perception,_for_example:_looks,_sounds,_tastes,_smells,_feels._”The_apple_tastes”

 

Here tastes acts as a copula in linking sour to apple. The sentence represents good English idiom, even though it is illogical and literally false, for the apple cannot taste at all. In its primary meaning, the pseudocopula is a transitive verb. The sentence is a grammatical condensation of two sentences: I taste the apple. The apple is sour. Here taste is a transitive verb.

 

false, for the apple cannot taste at all. In its primary meaning, the pseudocopula is a transitive verb. The sentence is a grammatical condensation of two sentences: I taste the apple. The apple is sour. Here taste is a transitive verb.

 

 

The pronomial

 

For example, in the phrase “this pencil,” this is a definitive. In the sentence “This is a pencil,” this is a pronoun. Pronominal used as definitive may be employed to express antithesis, for example: This hat I like but that one I dislike.

 

PREPOSITIONS Prepositions join words. A preposition unites substantives, which do not naturally coalesce.

 

CONJUNCTIONS Conjunctions join sentences. The sentences joined may be either explicit or implicit.

 

Conjunctive adverbs may be coordinating. These conjoin independent clauses or sentences. Examples include hence, consequently, therefore, then, nevertheless.

 

Conjunctive adverbs may be subordinating. These subjoin a dependent clause to an independent clause, forming a complex sentence. Examples include while, where, when, although, unless, if.

 

THE PURE COPULA The pure copula connects subject and predicate.

 

FUNCTION OF GRAMMAR The fundamental function of grammar is to establish laws for relating symbols so as to express thought.

 

 

 

Chapter 4

Terms and their grammatical equivalents

Definition and Division

 

A term is a concept communicated through a symbol

 

Only categorematic words (substantives and attributives) can do so. Although a syncategorematic word (a preposition, a conjunction, a definitive) cannot symbolize a logical term, it can be grammatically a part of the complete symbol, which expresses a logical term.

 

Terms Classification:

 

1.  Empirical and general

2. Contradictory

3. Concrete and abstract

4. Absolute and relative 

5. Collective and distributive

 

 

Chapter 5

Propositions and their Grammatical expressions

 

This chapter was concentrated in explain what are the propositions and how to recognize their characteristics as well.

 

Proposition asserts a relation of terms. It consists of subject, copula, and predicate.

 

Propositions are characterized by reference to reality, quantity, quality, modality, and value.

 

Characteristics of them

 

1) Reference to reality (general or empirical)

 

   -A general proposition is one whose subject is a general term, referring to an essence, symbolized by a common name or a general description.

 

• An empirical proposition is one whose subject is an empirical term, referring to an individual or an aggregate, symbolized by a proper name or an empirical description.

 

 

2) Quantity (total or partial)

 

3) Quality (affirmative or negative)

 

4) Modality (necessary or contingent)

 

The modality of a proposition is determined by the copula. Necessary and contingent relations have been explained and illustrated at the beginning of this chapter.

 

5) Value (true or false).

 

 

Formal Rules of Distribution

 

1. A total (or necessary) proposition distributes its subject.

2. Partial, proposition has its subject undistributed.

3. Negative proposition distributes its predicate.

4. Affirmative proposition has its predicate undistributed.

 

 

Chapter 6

Relations of Simple Propositions.

 

This chapter is dedicated to clarify and give examples of the relations of simple propositions. In this part of the book, logic start making sense.

 

The relations are the next fourth ones:

 

1) Conjunction: Mere joining of two or more propositions.

2) Opposition: the square opposition.

3) Eduction: -by adding determinates – by omitted determinants-by converse relation.

 

4) Syllogism: Simple, hypothetical, disjunctive and dilemma.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 7

The simple Syllogism

 

This chapter reminds me to my class of logic of the last year. I feel really good to practice with much exercise the last year so now is more easy to me to understand this chapter.

 

This chapter explain in a very detail way what is syllogism.

 

“The syllogism is the act of reasoning by which the mind perceives that from the relation of two propositions (called premises) having one term in common there necessarily emerges a new, third proposition (called the conclusion) in which the common term, called the middle term (M), does not appear.”

 

How to analyze a Syllogism:

 

-Find a conclusion (SP)

-Write S & P over the premises

-Find M

-Mood

-Distribution of terms

-Test to find (negatives, partials, etc.)

-Valid or invalid

 

Enthymeme is a syllogism logically abridged by the omission of one proposition, either the major premise, the minor premise, or the conclusion.

 

Sorites is a chain of enthymemes or abridged syllogisms, in which the conclusion of one syllogism becomes a premise of the next.

 

-Aristotelian sorties represent a more natural movement of the mind & is more often used.

 

-Goclenian sorites is the first proposition is the major premise of its syllogism and all the rest are minor premises, except the last that is a conclusion

 

Analogical inference or argument.

Analogy is a form of inference which has pointed the way to many of the discoveries of the science.

 

 

Chapter 8

Relations of Hypothetical and Disjunctive Propositions

 

“A hypothetical proposition is one that asserts the dependence of one proposition on another. An example is: If a man drinks poison, he will die.”

 

“A reason is the relation in the logical order, whereas a cause is, strictly speaking, a relation in the metaphysical order.”

 

“A disjunctive proposition is  one which asserts that of two or more suppositions, one is true”.

 

Pure hypothetical syllogism is all of the three propositions are hypothetical.

 

Mixed hypothetical syllogism is the major premise is a hypothetical proposition, and the minor premise is a simple proposition.

 

The Dilemma is a syllogism, which has for its minor premise a disjunctive proposition, for its major premise a compound hypothetical proposition and for its conclusion either a simple or a disjunctive proposition.

 

The significance o trilemma, which is a dilemma in which the disjunctive proposition offers three alternatives, follows the rules for the dilemma.

 

Chapter 9

Fallacies

 

This chapter probably is one of the ones that I enjoy the most because I remember my dad talking many times about how things that people constantly say or do are fallacies. Also it reminds me to my class of logic of last year.

 

A fallacy is a violation of logical principle disguised under an appearance of validity; it is an error in process.

 

Fallacies in diction

 

Equivocation: symbolizes two or more different terms.

Amphiboly: is a fallacy produced by ambiguity of syntax or grammatical structure, such as a misplaced or a dangling modifier, or order. 

Composition: It happens when parts are illicitly predicated of the whole. 

Division: The whole is illicitly predicated into parts.

Accent: Different meaning intended is conveyed through emphasis on certain letters, syllables, words, or ideas. 

Verbal form: similarity in language signifies also = similarity in meaning.

 

Valid syllogisms are the ones that occur when the tem of grammar is understood in first, zero, or second imposition throughout, and the argument is not erroneously shifted from one plane of discourse to another.

 

False cause is present when something accidental to a thing is held to determine its nature, character, or value.

 

The arguments are others that are important in fallacies but they I have memorize from the exercises I do the last year in logic.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 10

Summary of Induction

 

Logic is the normative science which directs the operations of the intellect so as to attain truth.

 

Induction is not a form of inference; it is a form of intuition.

 

Types of Induction:

 

-Enumerative induction

-Intuitive Induction

-Dialectic Induction or problematic induction

 

Induction and deduction are distinct, but in practice they go hand in hand.

 

There are 4 causes that explain all the materials effects:

 

1. Efficient cause

2. Final cause

3. Material cause

4. Formal cause

 

Scientific induction as a method of discovering truth embraces five steps: observation, analogy, hypothesis, analysis and sifting of data and verification of the hypothesis.

 

 

 

Chapter 11

Composition and Reading

 

 

This chapter for me was a reminder of other chapters of the well educated mind.

 

Logic was divided by Aristotle in :

-Posterior Analytics

-Topics

-Sophistical refutations

 

Rhetoric

Is defined by Aristotle as the art of finding in any given subject matter the available means of persuasion.

 

Persuasion is achieved by means of logos, pathos, and ethos.

 

Arrangement: is the order of parts: introduction, statement and proof, conclusion.

 

Short Story

 

-The Plot: Is the first and the essential element in poetic. The characters reveal themselves in the action.

- Characters

- Thought of characters

- Diction or style

- Music

- Spectacle

 

 

 

Elements of Form

-Rhythm

-Rhyme

-Alliteration

-Onomatopeia.