Virtue, meaning and the liberal arts

The Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict at Arizona State University welcomed Jennifer Frey to the Tempe campus last week for a lecture titled "The Virtues of a Liberal Education," part of the Maxine and Jonathan Marshall Speaker Series on Religion and Conflict.

Frey, an author and professor of philosophy, was the inaugural dean of the Honors College at the University of Tulsa. She has become one of the most influential contemporary voices on virtue, moral psychology and the enduring significance of the liberal arts in education. Her work emphasizes the belief that philosophy is not merely an academic discipline, but essential for the formation of citizens and for living well in an uncertain age.

The Marshall Speaker Series, established through the generosity of Maxine and Jonathan Marshall, brings globally recognized scholars to the university to share lectures that reflect the ASU Humanities mission to help create a better world. Frey’s lecture, with its focus on virtue, meaning and education, illustrated why the liberal arts remain central to that mission.

Frey’s work explores vital human questions: What virtues create a meaning-filled life? What does it mean to flourish? In her New York Times opinion piece, she criticized higher education for undervaluing the liberal arts and prioritizing pre-employment training. In her lecture, she reinforced this point while describing a critical transformation in the modern university: “Generalists disappeared. Wisdom, not surprisingly, disappeared as a norm as well and was replaced by expertise.”

To counteract this, Frey stressed the enduring importance of the humanities not only in public life but for the formation of free citizens in a democratic society.

Frey’s talk was well attended and came at a timely moment. She emphasized that an education rooted in meaning and virtue — moral as well as civic — can help prepare students to navigate complexity, strengthen community and engage thoughtfully in public life.

“I think that we cannot truly be free unless we have cultivated wisdom, a vision of what is true, good and beautiful that hangs together and makes sense for us in such a way that we can live meaningful and purposeful lives under it,” said Frey.

To this end, Frey also addressed the place of religion in a liberal arts education. Intellectual resources from religious and theological traditions have historically been vital to thinking and debating about what is good and true. They are no less relevant today.

Those familiar with the center’s work know that discussions of religion can be sensitive and sometimes contentious. Frey’s vision highlights a different path — one in which citizens engage one another by sharing and debating ideas of "what is true, beautiful and good." Her emphasis on virtue supports an understanding of education and human flourishing that encourages moral character and the pursuit of truth. Within this framework, conflict isn’t avoided but approached through respectful and constructive dialogue.

Frey emphasized that such conversations require courage: the courage to resist purely vocational views of education, the courage to develop virtues such as patience, justice and humility, and the courage to pursue lives of meaning and purpose.

John Carlson, center director, explained why Frey was chosen as this year’s Marshall Speaker. “Frey studies what gives life purpose and meaning. She reminds us that education should be about more than job skills. At a time when our democracy feels fragile and society is divided, her work shows why the liberal arts are essential not only for universities, but for all of us.

“When we bring thinkers like Jennifer Frey to the center, we’re reminded of what it means to live well and deepen our responsibility to one another. Her work dovetails with our mission. It shows how education must form ethical citizens capable of caring for and about one another.”

Looking to the future, he added, “The Marshall Speaker Series is about more than the individual lectures. It’s about sharing wisdom that can guide our future. By bringing voices like Professor Frey’s to ASU, we are investing in conversations that help shape the civic fabric of our society, and that’s exactly the work this series is meant to carry forward.”