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1st out of 58 books
—
3 voters
The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric
Who sets language policy today? Who made whom the grammar doctor? Lacking the equivalent of l'Académie française, we English speakers must find our own way looking for guidance or vindication in source after source. McGuffey's Readers introduced nineteenth-century students to "correct" English. Strunk and White's Elements of Style and William Safire's column, "On Language,...more
Paperback, 292 pages
Published
May 1st 2002
by Paul Dry Books
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This book teaches two lessons: first, the humanities can, and should, have rigor associated with them; and second, it teaches how to obtain and apply that rigor. While the book requires some effort to read, for those interested in logic, grammar, rhetoric, and the liberall arts, the effort is richly rewarded.
The book opens with a dicssuon on the liberal arts and then moves to a discussion of the science of grammar. This grammar is not about subject-verb agreement and punctuation, it is about ho...more
The book opens with a dicssuon on the liberal arts and then moves to a discussion of the science of grammar. This grammar is not about subject-verb agreement and punctuation, it is about ho...more
If you can master this book it is worth more than any college education money can buy. The only reason this doesn't get five stars is because it's a bit on the difficult side. There are other books on the trivium that may be a bit easier to start with but this book has everything plus wonderful examples from the Bible to Shakespeare. After mastering this book you will easily distinguish truth from error. The trivium was how educated people from the classical age up through the 19th century. With...more
OK, Sister Miriam Joseph. You win this round. I'm counting this as 'read' because (a) I don't feel like seeing it hanging out forever on my 'to-read' list, (b) I have read a fair chunk of it, and skimmed some, and (c) I don't know how to remove a book entirely once I've said I'm currently reading it.
There's no doubt there is a lot to learn from this book. Since I have only read part of it, there's also no doubt that I in particular have a lot to learn from it yet.
But, Good Lord is it a slog.
C...more
There's no doubt there is a lot to learn from this book. Since I have only read part of it, there's also no doubt that I in particular have a lot to learn from it yet.
But, Good Lord is it a slog.
C...more
This dense, authoritative textbook takes all of Aristotle's teachings on logic, grammar, and rhetoric, and some of his teachings of poetics, adds some of the insights gained in the subsequent centuries, and presents it in a well-organized flow.
Sister Miriam Joseph (1898-1982) was an American nun who, inspired by a lecture by philosopher Mortimer J. Adler on the liberal arts, developed a course on the language arts at Saint Mary's College which she called "The Trivium." There being no existing te...more
Sister Miriam Joseph (1898-1982) was an American nun who, inspired by a lecture by philosopher Mortimer J. Adler on the liberal arts, developed a course on the language arts at Saint Mary's College which she called "The Trivium." There being no existing te...more
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OK, this book may not be an 'easy read' and may not be everyone's cup of tea. Not a beach book.
Having noted the above, I want to add that anyone who is interested in logic, grammar, and how the two connect will find this book illuminating. Sister Miriam was a wonderful teacher, and this book is still sometimes used in college undergraduate classes to explain how Aristotelian logic works and how logic relates to rhetoric, grammar, argument.
She's remarkably clear. Her language is straightforward;...more
Having noted the above, I want to add that anyone who is interested in logic, grammar, and how the two connect will find this book illuminating. Sister Miriam was a wonderful teacher, and this book is still sometimes used in college undergraduate classes to explain how Aristotelian logic works and how logic relates to rhetoric, grammar, argument.
She's remarkably clear. Her language is straightforward;...more
Aug 09, 2008
Paula
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Serious Learners
Recommended to Paula by:
PIG English & American Lit
I should preface this by saying that this is a textbook, used in the author's Freshman English classes. Yet, hers was never typical of such classes. She did not just teach the students a little grammar, she taught them how to think. I can imagine her classes must have been one of those grueling, interminable ordeals that students so love to bemoan while in the midst of it, but that they boast about after the fact. She studied under Mortimer J. Adler, so it comes as no surprise that she is well v...more
This book more than any other reset my course and gave me the foundation I have long sought in order to learn everything else. It is less about her subjects, grammar, logic and rhetoric than a course in critical thinking. I am a lifelong fan of logic and reason and I had a pretty good grasp of that. But Sister Miriam's teaching enlightened me. I can now use it with more precision and express and persuade others more easily due to that precision. God Bless Sister Miriam.
Even as a reasonably well-educated individual who attended an ostensibly "liberal arts" college, I was essentially unacquainted with the core of logic, grammar and rhetoric.
After sitting on my shelf for 5 years, I finally read Sister Miriam Joseph's celebrated work. Hopefully I will be better equipped to read, write, speak and think having done so.
After sitting on my shelf for 5 years, I finally read Sister Miriam Joseph's celebrated work. Hopefully I will be better equipped to read, write, speak and think having done so.
This seems to be a book which takes what anyone with a decent education already learned and dresses it up in outdated terminology. It should appeal to those who fall into the intersection between two groups: those who have not had a decent education, and those who enjoy grouping things into endless categories using medieval language.
An interesting read for anyone interested in the nature and function of language and its role in education. Not always grabbing. Written in 1937 by a nun with a PH.d - double trouble. As someone without the greatest grasp of language and grammar (I'm a grammar-phobe) - the thought of diagramming a sentence still sends me into cold sweats) I hope this book will broaden my understanding of those two fields. Additionally, I hope Sister Joseph will further my understanding of the role of logic and r...more
Book 19 2012 Reading Challenge- this book has been on my shelves for some time. Fairly pedantic. I enjoyed the first section , which is speaking to the choir, about the importance of a humanities education. Author uses a lot of charts--don't work so well for me. Lots here just wasn't up for such a scholarly work.
Difficult to follow, but very good information about classical teaching.
makes my brain hurt but interesting...
Re-reading. It's that good.
Excellent reference book.
Oct 21, 2008
Tim
is currently reading it
Thanks to Sary - Happy Bday! So far it's a luscious romp through those tantalizing and titillating old liberal arts of logic, grammar and rhetoric, compliments of Sister Miriam Joseph. Exquisitely crafted and thoroughly Aristotelian (a mixed blessing for a Platonist, although I’ve always admired him for developing formal logic, and there’s something to be said for all-encompassing and uncompromisingly systematic systematizing).
The grammar and logic sections were revelatory but I found the rhetoric section a bit lacking in comparison, especially since now I'm reading Aristotle's "Rhetoric" which goes into much more detail and picks apart the subject with finer nuance.
Dec 08, 2008
Brian
marked it as to-read
Not the book that I thought it would be. I was looking for a history of the trivium as an approach to learning but instead this is a textbook on the three topics. Useful, for sure, but my fault for not researching this book better.
I took almost a year to finish this book and will probably reread it this fall. I can't believe I've worked so long in the theatre without cracking it. Working on Shakespeare will never be the same.
Ultimately, I thought this was a very fine book. Eminently worth the while of anyone who wishes th have a thorough understanding, and appreciation, of the Liberal Arts.
Great mental exercise. Makes clear the relationships between what we say, what we mean to say, and where they come together or fall apart.
There is a part of me that truly wishes that a book like this could become THE primary textbook for all schools in the United States.
My mind benefited more from this book than from all my years in public schools ... but does this really surprise anyone?
The first steps toward understanding what you know.
THE BEST educational plan EVER.
1 smart nun.
May 19, 2013
Tami
marked it as to-read
May 16, 2013
Simon
marked it as to-read
May 14, 2013
Silvia-Heliana
marked it as to-read
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