Liberal Education According to Seneca's Views

The text Seneca allows the reader to dive into Lucius Annaeus Seneca’s thoughts and proposals around the importance of liberal studies and the distinction between liberal and vocational studies. In addition to these topics the text also gives a short background of who Seneca is and how liberal and vocational studies can flow together. Seneca believed only one liberal study deserved the title “and that is the pursuit of wisdom” (Austin 14). Therefore this essay will analyse liberal education in terms of Seneca's views on it.

To begin, the reader needs to understand the foundational values around a liberal education to Seneca. For example the text states, “The geometrician teaches me how to work out the size of my estates rather than how to work out how much a man needs in order to have enough” (Austin 15). This illustrates that Seneca believes that most studies that are labeled liberal do know correctly qualify because they lack the ability to increase a person's wisdom. He also states, “ The geometrician teaches me how i may avoid losing any fraction of my estates, but what i really want to learn is how to lose the lot and still keep smiling (Austin 15). This quote allows the reader to grasp the foundational ideas around Seneca’s beliefs of a liberal education. From this the reader can understand that true liberal education in Seneca’s views consist not of the world's knowledge not how to remain yourself when the world’s knowledge can not grasp the values of a man's soul.

Next, this text sticks out because of its newfound use in daily life and the social constructs around daily life. With Seneca’s values of a liberal education known the reader can speculate how it can be applied to daily life. For example the text states, “you can define a straight line; what use is that the you if you've no idea what straightness means in life” (Austin 15). This quote allows the reader to grasp that knowledge of the world can not be applied to a man's soul and therefore do not strictly benefit the man. Many people in today's society search for vocational skills to increase their assets but don't have a grasp on how to control themselves if those assets were to lose value. This proves a loss of Seneca’s lierbal values and displays that a true liberal education that strengthens a man’s wisdom has been lost.

Lastly, how we can bring these values back in compliance with vocational education. The text states, “not because it can make them morally good but because it prepares the mind for the acquisition of moral values” (Austin 16). This quote demonstrates the very basis of how vocational education and liberal education can be applied together. All forms of employment based on a vocational education require a moral foundation to work proficiently. With a liberal education within a child’s young years society can build a person's ability to grasp moral understandings and then build this moral understanding through a vocational education to later be used in the workforce.

Works Cited

1. Austin, Michael “ Seneca on Liberal and Vocational Studies ” Reading the World Ideas That Matter 32nd ed, W. W. Norton & Company 201