Trivium

The "Trivium" is a set of three arts, which provide a student with the language, reasoning and communication skills necessary for the pursuit of true Wisdom. The first art of the Trivium, and first of the seven classical liberal arts, is Grammar, through which we learn to read, write and speak rightly in any language. Grammar consists of four parts: Orthography, Etymology, Syntax and Prosody. In orthography, students learn the written letters of a language and the sounds they represent. In Etymology, students learn the various forms of the parts of speech. In Syntax, students learn the rules of sentence construction. Lastly, in Prosody, students learn the true art of pronunciation, which includes accent, rhythm and meter. The second art of the Trivium, and second of the seven classical liberal arts, is Reasoning, through which we learn of the five kinds of predicables, the ten most general genera of predicables, the formation of propositions, the doctrine of the syllogism, the science of demonstrative reasoning, the science of dialectical reasoning, and the solution of sophistical fallacies. These concepts, which form the Aristotelean or Scholastic Method of investigation, are studied in the six books of Aristotle's Organon. The third art of the Trivium, and third of the seven classical liberal arts, is Rhetoric, through which we learn, as Aristotle says, "to discover the available means of persuasion" in any circumstance. Our sources for this study are the Rhetorical works of Aristotle, Cicero and Quintillian.

Trivium

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