Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, March 2023

AIM OF THE BOOK

Inside the Liberal Arts: Critical Thinking and Citizenship answers three highly topical and related questions:

• What are the liberal arts?

• What is critical thinking?

• How are they connected?
  
  At a time when liberal education is on the defensive vis à vis the STEM disciplines, and its future is called into question, the terms ‘liberal arts’ and ‘critical thinking’ are often used in tandem but seldom explained. Inside the Liberal Arts provides an overview of the core ideas that enable students to become higher-level thinkers. Avoiding the excesses of much academic prose (narrowness of focus, turgidity, obscure and unnecessary terminology, the pretention of absolute authority, and over-sourcing), Inside the Liberal Arts answers the three questions above, for students, educators, and the wider community of aspiring critical thinkers. It is at once a deep exploration of the concept of the liberal arts, and an accessible, thought-provoking guide to critical inquiry  for students, prospective students, graduate students,  former students, adult learners,  parents, and anyone interested in liberal learning.

SYNOPSIS

Defenders of the liberal arts perennially mention the importance of liberal learning to critical thinking and to citizenship. But there is no work that systematically explores the meaning of those ideas and how the liberal arts, critical thinking, and citizenship interconnect. As Mark Twain purportedly said of the weather: everyone complains about it, but nobody does anything about it.

Inside the Liberal Arts: Critical Thinking and Citizenship does something about it.

Examining the meaning of the term “liberal arts” and its roots in Greek and Roman thought, it goes on to explain how critical thinking unifies the modern liberal arts curriculum. As such, it is both an exploration of the nature of liberal learning and, integral to that, an accessible introduction to higher-level critical thinking for students, educators, and general readers.

While Inside the Liberal Arts presents multiple themes and concepts, an overarching idea is that citizenship is essentially triangular, embracing civic, economic, and cultural dimensions that interrelate, and that the value of liberal education lies in preparing students for all three forms of citizenship.

Inside the Liberal Arts distills four literatures: studies of the liberal arts; general books on thinking for lay readers; works on critical thinking; and philosophy. Its twin purposes are inseparable: to show how liberal learning promotes robust triangular citizenship, and to explain the concepts and ways of thinking that inform it. As a study of the role of thought in higher education, Inside the Liberal Arts addresses both general and academic readers in a way that will be both timely and enduring.

Inside the Liberal Arts: Critical Thinking and Citizenship is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and IndieBound.