Mathematics, Natural Science, and Philosophy
There are some who through knowledge of things natural construct a ladder by which to rise to the contemplation of things supernatural; they build a path to theology through philosophy and the liberal arts . . . they adorn the queen of heaven with the spoils of the Egyptians.
–from St. Thomas More’s Letter to the Guild of Masters of the University of Oxford
In his celebrated Regensburg Address, Pope Benedict XVI declared that the virtue most required today by those who seek the truth is nothing less than a kind of intellectual fortitude: the “courage to engage the whole breadth of reason.” It is a program with which St. Thomas More would have heartily agreed. For More not only championed Classical languages, but—as the passage above indicates—he also eloquently affirmed the noble task of the other liberal arts and of philosophy to prepare the mind for the arduous ascent towards wisdom.At Thomas More College, students begin the path to wisdom—natural and revealed—with courses that seek to attune their senses to the beauty and intelligibility of the Creation. In the Way of Beauty sequence, they learn to discipline their eyes, ears, hands, and even their voices, as they ponder the mysteries of proportion in the visual arts and music. Coupled with a semester of Euclidean Geometry in the Spring Term of their first year, the Way of Beauty sequence helps to reveal the sacred arithmetic and geometry built into the Creation and the human mind.
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