In 1853, John Henry Cardinal Newman published The Idea of a University which remains one of the seminal books on the meaning and purpose of a liberal education. Of special interest are the three discourses "Knowledge Its Own End" (#5); "Knowledge Viewed in Relation to Learning (#6); and, "Knowledge and Professional Skill" (#7). Below are some brief extracts about the need for generalization, liberal education, and the value of the self-educated person.

I am indebted to my teachers at Notre Dame during the 1950s -- Professors John T. Frederick, Frank O'Malley, Al Ryan, Ernest Sandeen, Richard Sullivan -- who not only introduced me to Newman's ideals of a liberal education and intellectual excellence, but also exemplified it in their lives and teaching.

As I write this in 2008, today's newspaper informs me that the average web viewer spends only 2 seconds on a page. Newman's long Victorian prose paragraphs each were often elaborated for 300 or 400 words, more than fit on a single printed page: but, careful and precise, elegant and parallel, working out the details of his ideas. It's not quick reading, and I hate to extract such little fragments here, but I hope they will act as a bridge to encourage you to read this worthy book: The Idea of a University.

On generalization:

"... if we would improve the intellect, first of all, we must ascend; we cannot gain real knowledge on a level; we must generalize, we must reduce to method, we must have a grasp of principles, and group and shape our acquisitions by means of them. It matters not whether our field of operation be wide or limited; in every case, to command it, is to mount above it.... In like manner, you must be above your knowledge, not under it, or it will oppress you; and the more of it you have, the great will be the load." (VI,7)

In my phrasing of this idea: Some way to sort, some place to store.

On liberal education:

"... that alone is liberal knowledge which stands on its own pretensions, which is independent of sequel, expects no complement, refuses to be informed (as it is called) by any end, or absorbed into any art, in order to present itself to our contemplation. The most ordinary pursuits have this specific character, if they are self-sufficient and complete; the highest lose it when they minister to something beyond them.... (V,4)" .... liberal education, viewed in itself, is simply the cultivation of the intellect, as such, and its object is nothing more or less than intellectual excellence." (V,9)

For Newman, "intellectual excellence" is not the result of subject matter (literature, history, philosophy-- the usual list of liberal arts), but of our approach to learning. Contemplation of "the most ordinary pursuits" thus can lead to the "cultivation of the intellect." In my phrasing of this idea, I ask:

Are ads worth all this attention?

No, but your mind is.

If you can better learn how to analyze things, to recognize patterns, to sort out incoming information, to see the parts, the processes, the structure, the relationships within things so common in your everyday environment, then it's worth your effort.

On the self-educated person:

"Self-education, in any shape, in the most restricted sense, is preferable to a system of teaching which, professing so much, really does so little for the mind....

[the self-educated person] will be too often ignorant of what everyone knows and takes for granted, of that multitude of small truths which fall upon the mind like dust, impalpable, and ever accumulating; they may be unable to converse, they may argue perversely, they may pride themselves on their worst paradoxes and grossest truisms, they may be full of their own mode of viewing things, unwilling to be put out of their way, slow to enter into the minds of others; but, with these and whatever other liabilities upon their heads, they are likely to have more thought, more mind, more philosophy, more true enlargement, than those earnest but ill-used persons who are forced to load their minds with a score of subjects against an examination, who have too much on their hands to indulge themselves in thinking or investigation, who devour premise and conclusion together with indiscriminate greediness, who hold whole sciences on faith, and commit demonstrations to memory, and who too often, as might be expected, when their period of education is passed, throw up all they have learned in disgust, having gained nothing really by their anxious labours, except perhaps the habit of application." (VI,10)

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If you are a self-taught person, a lone individual, reading this website for knowledge and pleasure, I wanted to add Newman's praise to you here. Internet learning has become such a boon to autodidacts. Isn't it great that we have such an opportunity now for all people, all ages, all countries? What a joy it was to welcome the free Open Courses from MIT !