How Category of Logos can help in Holistic Education?

Author: Yegor Karimov

After revising the Quadrivium Academy’s initial model based on the Liberal Arts Education with the direct integration of trivium and quadrivium, I have developed a completely new universal model for holistic education.

Holistic education primarily means a type of education that engages and seeks to reunite a person’s spirit, soul, and body in learning and teaching. To create a holistic educational method, each category requires profound elaboration and essential understanding.

The following model is an intellectual harmonisation and holistic vision. It reveals a universal holistic nature of arts we learn in schools, universities, and other educational institutions. As a whole, it is the model of a single art, and separately, within depicted order, each of the given categories implies a set of studies dedicated and related to the concept.

The model should help to answer to questions like:

• How are the different subjects connected?
• What is the essential common context for the taught subjects?
• How Category of Logos can help in holistic education?

The motivation for this revision is a search for pure universals that will embrace the field and enhance the existing educational model. As a result, we have four universals or categories, which can be expressed in one dialectical sentence: any art, in essence, is a method developed within the logos. To understand more, we will define each of the listed universals. But first, I wish to share how to discover them.

Image 1. Holistic Art Model

Context

The traditional Liberal Arts Education is a set of seven arts within trivium and quadrivium. Trivium is a set of three studies. Namely, dialectics, rhetoric, and grammar. On the other hand, quadrivium is a set of four studies: arithmetics, geometry, astronomy, and music.

To become a master of Liberal Arts, a student should comprehend them in a logical order. First, a person should acquire trivium and, only after completing the trivial course, approach quadrivial arts.

Completing trivium and quadrivium means being prepared to learn a complementary art of your choice, such as architecture.

Meaningful order

Why the Liberal Arts Education provides the priority and learning order? The answer is apparent — it is a common practice. Before any complex subject, a student should prepare their mind and comprehend trivial concepts within the domain.

Interesting fact:
Usually, people use the word trivial in a figurative sense — meaning simple or easy. However, the origin of this word is in the name of the foundational course with three disciplines — trivium.

But what does this order mean essentially? It means that trivial knowledge is needed in the quadrivium. Thus, astronomy or geometry requires dialectics and grammar? Yes. The same is about complementary arts like architecture that requires quadrivial knowledge since it is impossible to plan and build a house without basic calculation abilities.

The relationship between arts according to Liberal Arts is clear. However, it would be a stretch to say that every complementary discipline needs music. Personality needs indeed, but not every discipline requires astronomical knowledge. Nevertheless, the order offered by the Liberal Arts Education hints at universals, which I have deduced using four categories.

Holistic Arts Education

To recognise the listed above universals, we can question the function of arithmetics in the complementary Art of Architecture. Arithmetics is the method for architecture. The architect applies this method in his precise art. It is one universal, which corresponds to quadrivium.

Following the same logic, we could list other cases for the category of the method. In the case of geometry, it is clear. It will not always be evident with music and astronomy. However, we can find that even these standalone arts can be applied as methods.

The next question would be, what do we need to develop arithmetics as a method? The answer is dialectical reasoning within the word or logos. It is the second universal, which corresponds to trivium.

Image 2. Correspondence categories and Liberal Arts

The art category is natural to the topic we develop. Art is a practice that implies the application of method. And finally, the essence is the ontological property and, therefore, the deepest universal distinguished to emphasise the dialectical approach.

We have recognised four corresponding categories. Let’s now highlight an important aspect that predefines the quality of our model.

Liberal Arts have the logical priority for a learner according to the principle — the prior is the preparation for the subsequent.

Why the subsequent requires the prior? The reason is within the subsequent art itself — it inherits the previous. Without trivial knowledge, the learner won’t understand the complexity of a given art. As a result, their comprehension will be superficial.

Extrapolation of this fact means that a higher complex category inherits a more trivial category. That means art as a whole inherits four categories. This inheritance is the inner holistic order of art.

Now we see the internal composition of art. We can say that the inner order is the result of the introjection of external categorisation. However, we arrange arts in specific priority because of the preparation required in mastering arts. Therefore, the external order exposes the intrinsic nature of art.

The latter indicates the correspondence of internal and external, which satisfies the principle of harmony and integrity. The scattered and fragmented image of the educational field acquires natural holism. In this way, we inherit the Liberal Arts Education and come to the concept of Holistic Arts Education.

Image 3. Holistic Art’s inner and outer interrelations.

That was the explanation and the origin of the model. Let’s now define our four universals.

1. Essence

The category of essence is defined by the question “what a thing is”. For instance, what is mathematics? Try to apply this question to the art you are involved in, be it design, computer science or philology.

The necessity of understanding the essence in education can’t be overestimated. Elaboration within this category leads to notions as intuition, attitude, consciousness, personality, faith, and many more.

Essence is the first universal because, philosophically saying, everything has its meaning and necessarily exists integrally within the essence, which determines a thing to be what it is. All subsequent categories inherit the category of essence.

2. Logos

The category of logos can be translated simply as the word. However, the philosophical and theological concept emphasises the integral meaning, origin. Any art necessarily inherits logos, reflects and moreover indwells in it. Without the word, we can’t elaborate, develop an awareness of a phenomenon and therefore practice an art. We observe the essence of any phenomenon within the logos. Without logos, we can’t say anything about it.

The category of logos is centralising our model. The art is an applied logos within a specific domain. From this perspective, science is an applied dialectics. For instance, the dialectics of living beings is bio-logy.

3. Method

Etymologically method means the way. The meaning of the method is to be the way to some objective. In this sense, the method is the way. The method can be precise and well developed or unavowed. Sometimes we do things within some method, however, without any awareness. The method is truly universal and can be found everywhere, and especially in art.

Method inherits logos, serves it and defines the art. Method is the bridge between words and deeds, between logos and art.

Examples of the method are:

• arithmetic;
• programming;
• writing;
• logic;
• and others.

4. Art

The concept of art in our model matches with the Liberal Arts Education notion. Art is an action and practice of a person in the first place. Our model includes complementary and liberal arts simultaneously uniting them under one category. Thus, dialectics and pedagogy are both arts. The universal of art is the most specific and embraces all preceding qualities finalising and completing the model of holistic education. Art is an application of the method, a practice of the logos and reification of the essence.

Art can have a name — for instance, medicine. We can recognise each of the four universals on the surface and say:

1. The Art of Medicine essentially serves the human’s or sometimes other living beings’ health. It exists to help them overcome health issues, prevent diseases, and improve their quality of life.
2. The Art of Medicine is constantly developing its vocabulary and has a very complex and profound discourse on multiple topics within its domain. Medicine, be it anatomy, pathology or another branch, requires a highly developed language.
3. The Art of Medicine requires an exact and developed methodology. Doctors should follow strict methods to cure their patients.
4. Medicine is an integral discipline, advanced practice, discourse, applied methodology, has a purpose and therefore is art.

Preceding is the simplified example of categorical correspondence and inheritance. It is more linear than in reality. The deeper sight discovers many interesting recursive reflections and interrelations.

Personalistic perspective

Important to point out that the given model considers the personalistic perspective, where arts and education, as mentioned beforehand, are not objects but an activity of the person — the key measure of reality.

Personalism implies the first-person view, so to speak, where sciences and crafts exist within and for the person. It is an efficient and practical paradigm for holistic education, where the personal attitude is so crucial.

In other words, this model reveals an immanent state of the living consciousness reflected in things, not merely an objective nature of a phenomenon irrespectively to the personality.

In this regard, we reinforce logos because it is the singular way to comprehend, think creatively, name and create things. Therefore, as a category with a set of studies, logos appears to be located in the centre of holistic education. Indeed, what I can do without reasoning and the ability to speak? That is why trivium, as we initially stated in the Academy, is the crucial foundation for learning and teaching.

Why do we need the model?

We have the concise and laconic centralised model for the Holistic Arts Education. The model gives a holistic perspective on the entire field. Scattered disciplines acquire internal universal order and consistent external cohesion. Consequent benefits are:

• Universal holistic vision helps to orient in a highly diverse and scattered educational world;
• Understanding the common ground and universal nature of arts facilitates to share experiences;
• Awareness and consideration of the category of essence enriches education and makes arts profound;
• Application of the model gives a clear vision on concrete subjects’ hierarchy naturally prioritising them;
• Actualisation of trivial universal disciplines like dialectics and rhetoric empowers students to think deeply, critically and creatively;
• and more.

Please feel free to comment and try to apply this theoretical-practical model. I plan to develop an educational framework and a platform basing on it, so everyone can use it and contribute.

The old model for comparison

You can notice that the new model is an inheritance of Liberal Arts Education but with purified universals, which were distinguished in the initial model.

Image 4. Obsolete model

If you like Liberal Arts Education, the good news is that the liberal arts will continue to play an essential role in the Quadrivium Academy. In addition, it is possible to say that Liberal Arts Education implies the elma model (essence, logos, method, art) in the natural order of studies divided into three main stages, each of which corresponds to one category starting from logos. Therefore it is still an actual and efficient way of learning, especially when applying the new model to create a curriculum.

What’s next?

In the next articles I will write:

• How to apply elma and use it as a method;
• Why is attitude significant?
• Why elma is good for personalistic education;
• Which kind of curriculum I see for the Quadrivium Academy.

Have a good day!