Customer Reviews

The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is as much fun as I've had from a book in quite some time, even though the subject matters (grammar, logic, rhetoric) are usually thought of as serious if not outright grim.

The book was originally written for first-year students at college in the 1930s and 40s. It is simply amazing how much knowledge the teacher could assume from her students and build on. Fortunately, the current edition has been copiously footnoted for us. These and other updatings occasionally give an anachronistic flavor to the material, but more often highlight its timelessness.

After introductory chapters on the liberal arts and on language, two chapters on grammar (which are not dull summaries of long-familiar rules - in the 1930s these could be taken as given) lead smoothly into several chapters on logic, ending with a fine chapter summarizing fallacies. This material will be challenging, but a lot of fun, and for the most part presented with great clarity. (I have to admit, however, that after repeated readings I still do not understand why John is a rabbit.) Along the way you get to meet Barbara Celarent. The book concludes with a sadly brief chapter on composition and reading (i.e., rhetoric) which I wish I had read many years ago. An appendix gives a brief biography of the author, a nun who taught for many years at Saint Mary's College (South Bend). A lecture by Mortimer Adler crystallized her interest in the trivium.

Highly recommended - a 6-star book if ever there was one.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book; however, it's probably so different from anything you were taught in school that it might be difficult to incorporate anything into your writing style.

I was never taught logic in school--either high school or college. Thus, I found the sections on logic very interesting. The author describes every logical argument you could think of in detail, and (the editor) provides examples for most. Not easy reading, though--I found myself having to go back and re-read/study portions routinely.

As an aside, I think this book, unintentionally, does a lot to point out the failures of modern government-controlled schools. The "trivium" should be taught to all grade-school students.

Deftly edited by Marguerite McGlinn, The Trivium: The Liberal Arts Of Logic, Grammar, And Rhetoric by Sister Miriam Joseph Rauh (1898-1982) is a "user friendly" guidebook to better understanding the structure and usage of the English language. Individual chapters address everything from syllogisms, to common linguistic fallacies, to hypothetical and disjunctive propositions, and more. A superbly presented and accessible guidebook The Trivium offers a solid grounding for writers of all degrees of experience and background in fiction, nonfiction, as well as especially academic writing where the interpretations and literal truth of linguistic expression is under an exacting scrutiny. The Trivium is a highly recommended and welcome contribution to any serious and dedicated writer's reference collection.

I must applaud the late Sister Joseph along with editor McGlinn for making available this fantastic book on the three fundamental discipline of Classical knowledge - grammar, logic and rhetoric, which were the central building block of scholarly education for the better part of two thousand years.

The book is divided into four major sections: introductory material (first section), grammar (second), logic (third) and rhetoric (fourth).

In the first section, Joseph defines the Trivium and frames it vis a vis the classification of "goods" (valuable, useful and pleasurable); then she goes on to explain the difference between liberal arts, fine arts or "servile" arts. All definitions are sound and solid, the examples are pertinent and the whole is crystal-clear in a way only a classically-educated person can be clear.

The second section contemplates grammar, but not as we understand it in the commonsense meaning (e.g. how to properly conjugate the verb "to be"); rather, the Trivium deals with "general grammar," the way words are used to construct logical symbols to represent reality. This is why an ancient Greek discipline applies equally well to English (or any other language for that matter), since the way the human mind formulates words representing the "substance" and the "accidents" of things is rather universal across geography and time. In all, I think this second section is where Joseph shines the most, although she is also extremely enlightening on the remaining sections.

The last two sections on logic and rhetoric are also treated in strictly Classical terms; we have subjects like the essence and construction of a syllogism, the main logical fallacies, and a compendium on rhetorical devices. Although Joseph places more emphasis on grammar and logic, I still think the section on rhetoric to be a strong and useful introduction to that discipline for anyone new to it.

The book's pace is as good for the educated modern reader as it would have been for the original audience of first-year college students over a half-century ago. As one reviewer noted, it is amazing to think that so much knowledge was assumed of a college freshmen just a few decades ago.

There are no overly-wordy sections. Everything is presented tersely and concisely, along with a solid definition, an explanation of the device's usage and a few examples mostly from the Classics. This makes Sister Joseph's text extremely comprehensible and easy to "diagram" which is something I recommend to any student new to these disciplines.

I wholehartedly recommend this book to anyone interested in these timeless arts, which are central in the formation of Western thought. And having been created and consolidated by the likes of Aristotle, they are not exclusively Christian, although it is in great part thanks to early Christian thinkers that they were passed on intact and refined all the way to modern days.

This is certainly a wonderful place to start if you want to begin to understand the concepts underlying Western philosophy. I wish I had read it before starting to study philosophy at Oxford nearly thirty years ago, because it elucidates a lot of concepts my instructors never bothered to explain.

I have taught a course in introductory logic at a community college for the last two years using this as a text. Regretfully, I am dropping it this next term, because my students for the most part aren't at a reading level to be able to make the best use of it.

In short, this is a wonderful book. Some of its concepts and examples are rather quaint, and here and there there are defects in the editing that make the work needlessly obscure. But overall it is superb.

This book is not easy reading, especially for those with no prior classical education (like me); but for those who take the time to read the material closely and allow it to take hold, the rewards are inestimable.

You'll find yourself choosing your words more carefully, and thereby increasing their impact; being better able to distinguish between sense and nonsense, and thereby improving both the quality of your thinking and the way you are thought of; and polishing your way of speaking, so that not only do you shine, but others see the light.

After both reading and studying "The Trivium" it is not hard to see why its principles were the cornerstone of Western education for over a millennium. If followed, its lessons turn good minds into great ones.

The Trivium, originally written by Sister Miriam Joseph and edited by Marguerite McGlinn, is a classical approach to knowledge, focusing on the things the things "that pertain to the mind", instead of the aspects "that pertain to matter" (quadrivium); this book reintroduces the liberal arts in an academic tone, but one where the lay-reader, with a little work, will learn a great deal (in this case, a lay-reader is one who has not formally studied either logic, philosophy, or rhetoric, I'll assume most have had at least grammar). Many academics may actually have to brush up on terms or other rules as this books covers a lot of material, but it does so very well.

The book starts out very solid, and it starts out, correctly so, with the nature and function of language. Blocks throughout the chapter are off-set with special examples so one can take a moment and associate the examples with the information just read. The section on general grammar is also good, but her chapters on logic and rules for argumentation are outstanding. The material can be used as a refresher or as an introduction.

The art of writing and in particular, critical thinking has almost been lost in this country. Everywhere one turns, poorly reasoned positions are staked out by pundits and politicians, pastors and pagans. I hope this book can help reverse the trend.

Eva Brauns said that "whoever owns this books owns a treasure;" I agree.

Sister Miriam Joseph makes a distinction between the liberal arts, which teach one how to live and allow a human to rise above his or her material environment, and the utilitarian (or servile) arts, which allow one to earn a living.

The liberal arts exist to discipline the mind and perfect the intellect, allowing a person to sort fact from fiction, and conforming his or her mind with truth. This is (or rather, SHOULD BE) the aim of education (and by extension, philosophy). Regrettably, this is not the case.

If high school students studied this book carefully prior to entering college, they would be prepared to tackle any challenge: the study of mathematics, physics, chemistry, philosophy, among other subjects, would be more enjoyable and less burdensome when studied on a firm foundation in the liberal arts of logic, grammar, and rhetoric.

BTW, there is no requirement that you be Catholic or any sort of Christian to study this book. I am an agnostic, and wouldn't think twice about recommending it.

I ordered this book alongside Farnsworth's "Classical English Rhetoric," as it was the top recommendation from Amazon for that book and reviews were overwhelmingly positive. I approached the book as someone with a liberal arts degree and a tremendous interest in language, suspecting most topics covered in the book would be familiar. Its educational value far exceeded my expectations, and I wouldn't hesitate to say that mastering it gives one at least a year's worth of a modern liberal arts degree.

To begin, this book is readily accessible and enormously valuable to students of any proficiency level. Those who, like me, already have some knowledge of the topics discussed are perhaps at a disadvantage to those approaching the book without prior knowledge since the book is somewhat antiquated in its terminology. Written in the 1930's, the book predates many movements that have swept into the universities, such as linguistics and modernist critical theory. So, for example, the book uses the term "phantasm" while I was more familiar with the linguistic term "prototype," though the two terms are identical. The book does not feel outdated, however; Marguerite McGlinn (the editor) has done a thorough job of noting instances where modern research is at odds with, or illuminates, Sister Joseph's words and provides context for the discrepancies.

True to its nature, the book reads exactly like a textbook from the 1930's. Those familiar with more modern textbooks, in which the author assumes a playful, almost unserious tone to keep the student's interest, might find this book's tone unappealing. It is just the facts, ma'am, throughout.

There are instances, particularly in chapter two, where Sister Joseph's aims become unclear and I was left questioning the value of what I was reading. This aimless sense continued for me through chapter 5 and then it all came together splendidly when the importance of general grammar in constructing syllogisms and deconstructing fallacies became apparent in the portion on logic.

It was tempting for me to say, "Well, Sis, I already know what adverbs do so I'll see you in chapter 5!" and skip ahead a hundred pages. But there is a difference between general grammar (the relation of words of ideas) and special grammar (the relation of words in a specific language like English). Knowing the latter does not necessarily help you in understanding the former. Bearing this distinction in mind will help you slog through the first 5 chapters.

The bulk of the book concerns logic and provides a very thorough education in it. There is so much here that I don't know where to begin, so I won't. But rest assured it covers all the biggies: validity, syllogisms, fallacies, mood, etc. And (finally!) Sister Joseph provides exercises for the reader to complete, and she uses examples and quotations from classic writers to illustrate her points. This makes the tedium of the grammar chapters far more tolerable.

Sadly, the portion on rhetoric is the shortest. She discusses figures of speech (such as cliches), forms of writing (like short stories), and various aspects of poetic structure (like meter), all the while using these topics to discuss various rhetorical devices like parallelism and assonance. After an entire book of deep inquiry into each topic, the shallow, almost fleeting treatment of rhetoric is somewhat jolting. You still learn the particulars of various devices and they are illustrated with interesting examples, but the section does feel rushed and I wondered if there wasn't more to be uncovered.

Happily, I have Farnsworth's book dedicated to the subject of rhetoric to read next!

Overall, an excellent book that gives back in proportion to what the reader invests.

This excellent work is certainly a challenge, even for someone, like myself, who studied philosophy in college. It is, however, worth the effort. Combining the original 60-year old text with the deft editing (and entirely new material, particularly in the thought-experiment examples) by Marguerite McGlinn, this is a timeless work now available and accessible to new generations of readers.

on a personal note, editor Mrs. McGlinn passed away last week after battling pancreatic cancer. if you love this book as I do, it would be wonderful to honor her memory by donating to research into this terrible disease:

Marguerite Mulligan McGlinn memorial pancreas cancer research fund
c/o Dan Laheru MD
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
The Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center
The Sidney Kimmel Compreshensive Cancer Center
Bunting-Blaustein CRB Room G89
1650 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD 21231