Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/835

Rh ARTS

759

ABTS

be called, was relegated to a position of decided in- feriority. Theology was in the foreground, and it became the fashion to look upon the study of the classics with contempt. With the eighteenth cen- tury, however, a new era Ixjgan. I'nder the lead of the new universities, Halle and Gottingen, philo- sophical studies grailually regained u place of impor- tance in the universities, and during the nineteenth century completely recovered their ancient pres- tige. Taking Cermany as a whole, the Faculty of Philosophy includes to-day about one-fourth of all the teachers in the universities. In modern times the development of knowledge, especially of the sciences, has, in .some imiversities, led to a fundamental change in the constitution of the Faculty of Arts. Owing to the multiplication of courses, the teachers in tlic Faculty of Arts in many cases outnumber tho.se in all the other Faculties together. The dilliculties arising out of this condi- tion come not only from the fact that the Faculty of Arts in such c;ises is a larger body than it formerly was, but also from the fact that its members have fewer interests in common. In the days when Aristotle was the text-book for both pliilo.sophy and science, it was natural enough that teachers of the two branches should work side by si<le; their co- operation was based on both principle and method. But to-day there is often little in common between them, except what results from the traditional as- sociation of their respective subjects under the same faculty. In France, the problem has been met by splitting the Faculty of Arts into two .separate facul- ties, those of Letters and of Science. At most of the German universities the Faculty of Philosophy has remained intact, but the old humanistic group of studies and the mathematical-science group receive recognition respectively as distinct departments. In a few institutions, the problem h;is boon solved, as in France, by dividing the Faculty of Philosophy into two separate faculties, or even into three. In Ameri- can universities and colleges the Faculty of Arts oc- cupies much the same position as at Oxford, although there is considerable diversity in the names by which it is otficially known. It usually has under its jurisdiction the great majority of profes.sors and students, and all courses of study outside of tlio purely professional and technical departments. In some cases the Faculty has been split up into several distinct faculties; but in general there has been a strong desire to adhere to the medieval tradition that all cultural studies, whether undergraduate or post-graduate, whether in the arts or in the sciences, should be grouped together, the danger of inefficiency being guarde<l against usually by dividing the Faculty into a number of departments, each of which controls, to a greater or less extent, the work of its instructors and students.

For bibliography, eee Arts, Bachelor of.

J. A. Burns. Arts, Master of, an academic degree higher than that of Bachelor. The conferring of the degree of Master of Arts, as a title invested with certain specific academic privileges, is closely connected in origin with the early history of the University of Paris, which was the mother-university in arts as Bologna was in law. Originally, the degree meant simply the right to teach, the Licenlia dnccndi, and this right could be granted, in Paris, only by the Chancellor of the Cathedral of Notre name, or the Chancellor of St. Genevieve. According to the Third Council of Lateran, held in 1179, this Licenlia docrndi had to be granted gratuitously, and to all duly qualified applicants. It was the Chancellor's right to determine the question of the applicant's fitness. But in time, as the number of candidates for the degree increased, and the university de- veloped, the ceremony of presentation Ix-fore the

Chancellor liecamo more and more of a formality, and the responsibility for the fitness of the candi- date devolved upon his teacher, and his teacher's a.ssociates. Although, liowevcr, the Chancellor's li- cence un(|uestiiiably conferred the right to tench, it did not make the recipient a full Master. For this it w!is retiuired, in addition, that the faculty in which the Licenlia docendi was Ki\cii, should formally recognize the recipient as a Miusler, and admit him to a place among themselves. This ceremony, by which the Licentiate became a full Master, was known as Inciptio. As the term implies, the cere- mony involved a beginning of actual teaching, the Licentiate delivering a lecture before the faculty. Tlie term "Commencement", as applied to gradua- tion exercises, is but the English eouivalent of the medieval Inceptio, and was first used at Cambridge. The ceremony of formally investing the young teacher with the title and insignia of a Master con- sisted in the Ijestowal of the hirctta, or Master's cap, the open book, and the kiss of fellowship, after which he took his seat in the magisterial chair. Half a year or so elapsed between the granting of the Licence and the Inception. No examination was required before Inception, the candidate's fit- ness having been tested lx;fore the conferring of the Licence. Those who received the Licenlia docendi from the Chancellor were admitted to Inception as a matter of course. The candidate for the Licence in Arts had to pass two examinations, a preliminary one. conducted by the Chancellor, and another con- ducted by the faculty itself. In going to receive the Licence, the candidates were arranged in the order of their academic standing, a custom which developed into the modern system of graduation honours. The ceremony wius conducted with great pomp. Part of the proceedings consisted in the "Collations", or the giving of lectures by some of the candidates. The CharluUirium of the University of Paris gives the formula used by the Chancellor in conferring the Licence as follows: "Et ego auctoritate a]X)stolorum Petri ct Pauli in hac parte mihi com- ini.ssa do vobis licentiam legendi, rcgendi, disputandi et determinandi ceterosque actus scholasticos seu magistrales exercendi in facilitate artium Parisiis et ubique terrarum, in nomine Patris, et Filii. et Spiritus Sancti. Amen." (Chartularium, II, App. 679.)

In medieval times, the title of Master was practi- cally synonymous with that of Doctor, the former being more in favour at Paris and the universities modelled after it, and the latter at Bologna and its derivative universities. At Oxford and Cambridge a distinction came to be drawn between the Faculties of Law, Medicine, and Theolngj' and the Faculty of Arts in this respect, the title of Doctor being used for the former, and that of Master for the latter. In Germany "Doctor" is exclusively used, but the Ger- man university diploma still frequently evidences the original equivalence of the two titles, the recipi- ent Ijeing styled MagiMcr Artium et Doctor Phitoso- phi<r. In France the original practical ctiuivalence of the Licentiate and the Mastership, or the Doctorate, developed into a distinction amounting to separate degrees. Under the present university system in France, the Bachelor may attain to the Licence in Arts one year after receiving the Baccalaureate, although generally two years at least are found necessarj'. .\fter the Licentiate, a considerable period elapses before the Doctorate can be obtained. No set time is required for the Doctorate, but the high .standard of qualification prevents candidates from applying for it for several, and sometimes for many, years after the Licentiate is received.

M Oxford, the degree of Master of Arts has re- tained much the same academic significance it had during the Middle Ages. The degree admits the recipient ipso jaclo to the Faculty of .\rts and to the