Wednesday 9th October 2024

Pre reading questions

How does the degree programme work?
What about the core course ('Cultural Encounters')?
How do I explain Liberal Arts?

Lecture

History of Liberal arts

• Ancient Greece: Essential education for free individual active in civic life - grammar, rhetoric and logic= trivium

• Liberal arts now interdisciplinary, spanning humanities, social, natural and formal sciences

Liberal Arts in relation to different ideological/economic/political perspectives:
eg: Critically thinking about Capitalism etc.

Liberal definition as an adjective in Merriam Webster:
5: Broad Minded especially: not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or traditional forms

Liberalism

• Evolved jn the late 18th/19th century

• Response to authoritarian rule

• Influence

Liberalism calls for:

• separation of church and state

• acknowledgement of universal natural rights to life, liberty, property and happiness

• limitations on state interference in trade

Liberalism - Capitalism - Neoliberalism

• By 1970s, economic stagnation, increasing public debt - calls for return to classical liberalism

• Influence of Hayek and Freidman (Chicago Boys)

Neoliberal:

• a liberal who de-emphasizes traditional liberal doctrines in order to seek progress by more pragmatic methods

• Not a form of capitalism, but pro capitalist ideology (spread by colonialism, neoclonialism, globalism etc.

• Same key features of classical liberalism: importance of the individual over the collective

• ‘Free economic individual’

• ‘Trickle down economics’

• Same key features as classical liberalism

Neoliberal individualism

• Human flourishing best encouraged through maximising profits (e.g: ‘trickle- down economics’)

• Recognises individuals’ universal right to freedom

Proponents of Neoliberalism

Hayek- Argued that interventionist measures aimed at the redistribution of wealth leads to a totalitarianism

Friedman - rejection of fiscal policy

QAA Draft Benchmarking Statement

Major societal shifts of the 21st century require:

• a re-thinking of former specialisms

• in- depth and comparative interrogation of their boundaries

• a return to the breadth and depth of studies reformed for a new age

3.1: It is recommended that Liberal students undertake a diet of courses which encourage

What can/could Libera Arts be?:

Skills:

• Critical Thinking

• Interdisciplinary skills

• Creativity

• Communication skills

• Advancing knowledge

Values:

• Inquisitive

• Kindness

• Community minded

• Enhancing cultural awareness