Where to Begin for Higher Studies in General

Most students arrive with expectations and presuppositions, and in particular with a reasonable modern preference about what should come first in an education or what the foundations of education are supposed to be. The five paths listed below take those preferences seriously. Each one grants what is true in a given modern approach or perspective, then shows the problems that arise if words are treated as secondary and thus why we ultimately need speech and language to be treated first.

Each of these is a short dialectical exercise, that is, an exercise in reviewing probable opinions, the things a modern educated student might already say. You have a choice of where to begin. Immediately below are five modern starting points: five positions or perspectives that a modern student might have, which it will be helpful to explore first, to see why the classical tradition does not start with these. After you have explored one of these questions, Feel free to return here and choose another starting point to explore.

Once you are convinced that none of these views or perspectives are more fundamental than word and language, then you should go on to where the classical trivium itself begins. Click below on Why the Classical Tradition Begins with Words.