The liberal arts - is welcome and remarkable on account or its wide-ranging and unusual effort to ground the ideas and practices of the liberal arts in the context or philosophy. The point or this endeavor is to reminind us that language is the essential instrument of inquiry. Therefore, the liberal arts are essential to democracy; they enable citizens to understand that the life of the mind and free society go hand in hand.

- Leon Botstein, President and Leon Levy Professor in the Arts and Humanities, Bard College

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Inside the Liberal Arts: Critical Thinking and Citizenship answers three highly topical and related questions:

• What are the liberal arts?

• What is critical thinking?

• How are they connected?
  
  At a time when liberal education is on the defensive vis à vis the STEM disciplines, and its future is called into question, the terms ‘liberal arts’ and ‘critical thinking’ are often used in tandem but seldom explained. Inside the Liberal Arts provides an overview of the core ideas that enable students to become higher-level thinkers. Avoiding the excesses of much academic prose (narrowness of focus, turgidity, obscure and unnecessary terminology, the pretention of absolute authority, and over-sourcing), Inside the Liberal Arts answers the three questions above, for students, educators, and the wider community of aspiring critical thinkers. It is at once a deep exploration of the concept of the liberal arts, and an accessible, thought-provoking guide to critical inquiry for students, prospective students, graduate students,  former students, adult learners,  parents, and anyone interested in liberal learning.

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About the Author: Jeffrey Scheuer

Jeffrey Scheuer writes mainly about politics, media, history, and education.

His first book, The Sound Bite Society (1999) was named a Choice “Outstanding Academic Title.”He is also the author of The Big Picture: Why Democracies Need Journalistic Excellence (2007).

Scheuer has published essays, articles, reviews and commentary in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and some two dozen other daily newspapers, and has also published in Dissent, The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Gettysburg Review, Potomac Review, Wilson Quarterly, Nieman Reports, Philosophy Now, Private Pilot, and elsewhere.