Customer Reviews

The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric

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This book is as much fun as I've had from a book in quite some time, even though the subject matters (grammar, logic, rhetoric) are usually thought of as serious if not outright grim.

The book was originally written for first-year students at college in the 1930s and 40s. It is simply amazing how much knowledge the teacher could assume from her students and build on. Fortunately, the current edition has been copiously footnoted for us. These and other updatings occasionally give an anachronistic flavor to the material, but more often highlight its timelessness.

After introductory chapters on the liberal arts and on language, two chapters on grammar (which are not dull summaries of long-familiar rules - in the 1930s these could be taken as given) lead smoothly into several chapters on logic, ending with a fine chapter summarizing fallacies. This material will be challenging, but a lot of fun, and for the most part presented with great clarity. (I have to admit, however, that after repeated readings I still do not understand why John is a rabbit.) Along the way you get to meet Barbara Celarent. The book concludes with a sadly brief chapter on composition and reading (i.e., rhetoric) which I wish I had read many years ago. An appendix gives a brief biography of the author, a nun who taught for many years at Saint Mary's College (South Bend). A lecture by Mortimer Adler crystallized her interest in the trivium.

Highly recommended - a 6-star book if ever there was one.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book; however, it's probably so different from anything you were taught in school that it might be difficult to incorporate anything into your writing style.

I was never taught logic in school--either high school or college. Thus, I found the sections on logic very interesting. The author describes every logical argument you could think of in detail, and (the editor) provides examples for most. Not easy reading, though--I found myself having to go back and re-read/study portions routinely.

As an aside, I think this book, unintentionally, does a lot to point out the failures of modern government-controlled schools. The "trivium" should be taught to all grade-school students.

Deftly edited by Marguerite McGlinn, The Trivium: The Liberal Arts Of Logic, Grammar, And Rhetoric by Sister Miriam Joseph Rauh (1898-1982) is a "user friendly" guidebook to better understanding the structure and usage of the English language. Individual chapters address everything from syllogisms, to common linguistic fallacies, to hypothetical and disjunctive propositions, and more. A superbly presented and accessible guidebook The Trivium offers a solid grounding for writers of all degrees of experience and background in fiction, nonfiction, as well as especially academic writing where the interpretations and literal truth of linguistic expression is under an exacting scrutiny. The Trivium is a highly recommended and welcome contribution to any serious and dedicated writer's reference collection.

You need a spell-checker if you write. To put hyphens where they belong you can buy the NEW YORK TIMES MANUAL OF STYLE. To avoid mistakes in logic see Sister Miriam. Her book is an encyclopedia of fallacies, logical blunders.

From the blurbs you may surmise that this is official "Christian" English. A timeless text. One basic refrence is Thrax (166 BC); another is Porphry, who died in 305 AD. The good Sister - who went to her reward in 1982 - informs about Latin absolutes - unfortunately rare these days, but we ought to recognize them. And Greek lLITOTES such as "She is not unaware of her beauty.." Magic grammar !

This is a difficult read; ringing changes on logical fallacies seems endless. What is a "second intention?" An "enthymeme?" Venn diagrams - the author calls them "Euler circles" - help a bit. But it seems almost anything a person may say is foolish and illogical; which must go double for lawyers and judges. That should be humbling, in case you ever need to humiliate a judge. Pull out a slip of paper with "Glocenian sorites" written on iit.

The ablative absolute, in case you're wondering, goes like this: With Caesar away, Senators conspired to murder hm. That's lively writing, isn't it?