What does literal arts means?

Answer 1

literal arts are literary arts, or written forms: poetry, novelization, screen writing, etc

Though forms of written art would typically be referred to as literary arts and not literal arts which is an outdated slang reference.

You may be confusing it with the more common phrase: liberal arts.

Liberal arts are those subjects and skills which are considered essential for participation in an active civic life. The concept and definition of what those skills are has evolved throughout history and depending on which time period you are examining you will find different areas of study.

In Ancient Greece, liberal arts included public debate, jury service, and military service. The stated goal of the training was to produce a virtuous, knowledgeable and articulate person.

During medieval times liberal arts were extended to include basic arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy.

In modern times a liberal arts education has many interpretations. The basic structure of childhood studies (elementary, middle and high school) is an evolved concept of the ancient worlds view of liberal arts. Childhood education includes a 'liberal' amount of varied studies aimed at giving students an understanding of reading, writing, arithmetic, basic sciences and history.

The idea itself has become so universal that the term liberal arts is rarely even used in reference to modern childhood education and it is generally accepted that everyone should attend these minimum levels of training in schools as children. (compared to ancient times when schooling even at this level was often optional)

The term liberal arts continues to be used at the university or college level to describe someone who is extending their education without a specific focus or specialty. Depending on the school, a modern liberal arts degree may include training in: literature, language, philosophy, history, mathematics, psychology, science, and more. Harvard University for example also requires: Biology, Social Sciences, and humanities courses as part of their liberal arts degree.

In general terms a liberal arts degree is any that are not related to a professional, vocational or technical curriculum.

In practical terms at modern colleges, most students will eventually choose a major and specialize their degree to obtain a professional or technical certification (a degree 'in' a particular job or specific field of study). By contrast, liberal arts would be all of the courses which did not directly relate to their specialization.

Thus a student with a liberal arts degree has no specialization and has completed all of the generic course work (math, reading, etc) at a particular level (associate, bachelor, masters, etc) without a specialized education in a particular area of study (law, medicine, fine art, engineering, etc)