Critics voice contrary opinions about the current state of liberal arts. Some believe the liberal arts, the humanities, are more important than ever, given the threat of AI, while others assert they are in decline. With the value of higher education under attack, with some bemoaning its cost or lack of utility, Corey’s Heart of Learning offers an essential counterargument.
Elizabeth Corey’s defense of liberal education in The Heart of Learning is remarkable even if somewhat partial to a Christian humanistic point of view. Erudite and widely read, she quotes Christian luminaries such as John Henry Newman and Michael Oakeshott, as well as liberal theologians, philosophers, and atheists. Throughout the work, she argues that universities should be more than the dispensers of vocational skills.
Corey believes universities should offer humanistic learning that leads to self-knowledge, vision, and understanding. While acknowledging that STEM and vocational training are important, she insists that fields of study should be more than collections of empirical research. She believes, as John MacMurray does, that emotions and sensibilities can be refined through guided instruction.
Unsurprisingly, Corey argues for the
importance of mentors in shaping and guiding student thinking. The first
chapter, “My Story,” details the positive effects of a mentor in her own
scholastic life at Oberlin College. Corey, a political philosophy professor at
Baylor University, teaches, among other classes, “What is Liberal Education.”