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Technometry: Theses 1-3 - Art

Technometry,
which adequately circumscribes the Boundaries and the Ends of all the Arts and of every individual Art
- William Ames

The "arts" Ames is discussing are the liberal arts, which include grammar, logic, rhetoric, math, physics, and theology.

His first thesis is that an art is an idea of good action, specifically defined by universal rules.  In thesis three, Ames explains that an art is:
a model to represent an action,
formed in the mind of a person,
before he needs to act,
for the purpose of acting correctly.

Elsewhere he says that art is
the regular disposition or instruction of a thing, in existence and operation, agreeably to its end.
The art of grammar, for example, is a model of action taught to students in order to form in their minds the representation of the right action they should take when reading or writing.  Ames clarifies that an art is not a subject.  For example, the art of grammar is applied to the subject of languages and it may govern actions that include skills like handwriting and publication technology.  But the art of grammar isn't part of the subject of English or Latin.

How can I apply this to my little homeschool experiment?  For the art of grammar for example, I will have to look at the rules that govern the proper translation of communication from one mind to another.  I will need to find examples and types to define the rules and provide practice observing those examples of translation rules while we study languages.  I will need to provide models of true, beautiful, and good words, especially as translations between languages, to fill our imaginations with frameworks to govern our reading and writing.  And that's about all I can come up with, as an uneducated mom who needs to go cook dinner.  If you read this and have any thoughts, please share!  I would love feedback, pushback, or comments of any sort.

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