Volume 17, Issue 2, Fall 2010
The Future of Liberal Arts Education
Peter J. Mehl
Pages 105-118
Educating for Life
Liberal Arts and the Human Spirit
In this essay I argue that liberal arts education must reject scientism and embrace tmths about human flourishing, tmths that can be supported by both traditional wisdom and recent scientific studies. Liberal arts education can speak to the human spirit's yeaming for moral and spiritual meaning in life, and can help students come to terms with this interest. Current research into human flourishing enables us to make a more persuasive public case for the importance
of liberal arts education, and specifically for it as education for our moral and spiritual lives.