As I am writing
this, it is a sunny afternoon and so I say to you, "Good Afternoon".
My name is Al
and my partner in crime, and all other things, is Laura. We are creating this
blog to document our 10-year journey to supplement our current efforts to
obtain a higher education and degrees of merit in our respective fields of
study. I am a History major with a focus on European History, especially that
in and around the time of the Arthurian legends. Laura is an English major with
a focus in English Literature and Creative Writing.
As the title of
our blog states, we are attempting to obtain Virtue—in the Platonic sense, that
is to acquire knowledge and wisdom and to seek the truth. We are doing this predominantly
through reading some of the greatest and most important works written by the
Western World. I know this is cutting out a lot of knowledge obtained by the
East, but as Americans descended from mostly European immigrants, we decided to
start with understanding our cultural heritage and the thoughts that have
influenced our current society.
This blog will detail
our thoughts, opinions, and experiences as we make our way through the 60
volume series entitled The Great Books of the Western World. This collection
was published by the Encyclopedia Britannica in 1952 and the updated in 1990
and is as follows:
FIRST YEAR
1. PLATO: Apology, Crito
2. ARISTOPHANES: Clouds, Lysistrata
3. PLATO: Republic [Book I-II]
4. ARISTOTLE: Ethics [Book I]
5. ARISTOTLE: Politics [Book I]
6. PLUTARCH: The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans [Lycurgus, Numa
Pompilius, Lycurgus and Numa Compared, Alexander, Caesar]
7. NEW TESTAMENT: [The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, The Acts of the
Apostles]
8. ST. AUGUSTINE: Confessions [Book I-VIII]
9. MACHIAVELLI: The Prince
10. RABELAIS: Gargantua and Pantagruel [Book I-II]
11. MONTAIGNE: Essays [Of Custom, and That We Should Not Easily Change a
Law Received; Of Pedantry; Of the Education of Children; That It Is Folly to Measure
Truth and Error by Our Own Capacity; Of Cannibals; That the Relish of Good and
Evil Depends in a Great Measure upon the Opinion We Have of Them; Upon Some
Verses of Virgil]
12. SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet
13. LOCKE: Concerning Civil Government [Second Essay]
14. ROUSSEAU: The Social Contract [Book I-II]
15. GIBBON: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire [Ch. 15-16]
16. The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, The
Federalist [Numbers 1-10, 15, 31, 47, 51, 68-71]
17. SMITH: The Wealth of Nations [Introduction—Book I, Ch. 9]
18. MARX—ENGELS: Manifesto of the Communist Party
19 TOCQUEVILLE – Democracy in America [Vol 1, part II ch 6-8]
20 IBSEN – The Master Builder
21 SCHRODINGER – What is Life?
1. PLATO: Apology, Crito
2. ARISTOPHANES: Clouds, Lysistrata
3. PLATO: Republic [Book I-II]
4. ARISTOTLE: Ethics [Book I]
5. ARISTOTLE: Politics [Book I]
6. PLUTARCH: The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans [Lycurgus, Numa
Pompilius, Lycurgus and Numa Compared, Alexander, Caesar]
7. NEW TESTAMENT: [The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, The Acts of the
Apostles]
8. ST. AUGUSTINE: Confessions [Book I-VIII]
9. MACHIAVELLI: The Prince
10. RABELAIS: Gargantua and Pantagruel [Book I-II]
11. MONTAIGNE: Essays [Of Custom, and That We Should Not Easily Change a
Law Received; Of Pedantry; Of the Education of Children; That It Is Folly to Measure
Truth and Error by Our Own Capacity; Of Cannibals; That the Relish of Good and
Evil Depends in a Great Measure upon the Opinion We Have of Them; Upon Some
Verses of Virgil]
12. SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet
13. LOCKE: Concerning Civil Government [Second Essay]
14. ROUSSEAU: The Social Contract [Book I-II]
15. GIBBON: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire [Ch. 15-16]
16. The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, The
Federalist [Numbers 1-10, 15, 31, 47, 51, 68-71]
17. SMITH: The Wealth of Nations [Introduction—Book I, Ch. 9]
18. MARX—ENGELS: Manifesto of the Communist Party
19 TOCQUEVILLE – Democracy in America [Vol 1, part II ch 6-8]
20 IBSEN – The Master Builder
21 SCHRODINGER – What is Life?
SECOND YEAR
1. HOMER: The Iliad
2. AESCHYLUS: Agamemnon, Choephoroe, Eumenides
3. SOPHOCLES: Oedipus the King, Antigone
4. HERODOTUS: The History [Book I-II]
5. PLATO: Meno
6. ARISTOTLE: Poetics
7. ARISTOTLE: Ethics [Book II; Book III, Ch. 5-12; Book VI, Ch. 8-13]
8. NICOMACHUS: Introduction to Arithmetic
9. LUCRETIUS: On the Nature of Things [Book I-IV]
10. MARCUS AURELIUS: Meditations
11. HOBBES: Leviathan [Part I]
12. MILTON: Areopagitica
13. PASCAL: Pensées [Numbers 72, 82-83, 100, 128, 131, 139, 142-143, 171, 194-
195, 219, 229, 233-234, 242, 273, 277, 282, 289, 298, 303, 320, 323, 325, 330-331,
374, 385, 392, 395-397, 409, 412-413, 416, 418, 425, 430, 434-435, 463, 491, 525-
531, 538, 543, 547, 553, 556, 564, 571, 586, 598, 607-610, 613, 619-620, 631, 640,
644, 673, 675, 684, 692-693, 737, 760, 768, 792-793]
14. PASCAL: Treatise on the Arithmetical Triangle
15. SWIFT: Gulliver's Travels
16. ROUSSEAU: A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
17. KANT: Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals
18. MILL: On Liberty
19 VOLTAIRE – Candide
20 NIETZSCHE – Beyond Good and Evil
21 WHITEHEAD – Science and the Modern World [Ch I – VI]
THIRD YEAR
1. AESCHYLUS: Prometheus Bound
2. HERODOTUS: The History [Book VII-IX]
3. THUCYDIDES: The History of the Peloponnesian War [Book I-II, V]
4. PLATO: Statesman
5. ARISTOTLE: On Interpretation [Ch. 1-10]
6. ARISTOTLE: Politics [Book III-V]
7. EUCLID: Elements [Book I]
8. TACITUS: The Annals
9. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I-II, QQ 90-97]
10. CHAUCER: Troilus and Cressida
11. SHAKESPEARE: Macbeth
12. MILTON: Paradise Lost
13. LOCKE: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding [Book III, Ch. 1-3, 9-11]
14. KANT: Science of Right
15. MILL: Representative Government [Ch. 1-6]
16. LAVOISIER: Elements of Chemistry [Part I]
17. DOSTOEVSKY: The Brothers Karamazov [Part I-II]
18. FREUD: The Origin and Development of Psychoanalysis
19 TWAIN – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
20 LEVI-STRAUSS – Structural Anthropology [Selections]
21 POINCARÉ – Science and Hypothesis [Part I - II]
FOURTH YEAR
1. EURIPIDES: Medea, Hippolytus, Trojan Women, The Bacchantes
2. PLATO: Republic [Book VI-VII]
3. PLATO: Theaetetus
4. ARISTOTLE: Physics [Book IV, Ch. 1-5, 10-14]
5. ARISTOTLE: Metaphysics [Book I, Ch. 1-2; Book IV; Book VI, Ch. 1; Book XI, Ch.
1-4]
6. ST. AUGUSTINE: Confessions [Book IX-XIII]
7. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I, QQ 16-17, 84-88]
8. MONTAIGNE: Apology for Raymond de Sebonde
9. GALILEO: Two New Sciences [Third Day, through Scholium of Theorem II]
10. BACON: Novum Organum [Preface, Book I]
11. DESCARTES: Discourse on the Method
12. NEWTON: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy [Prefaces,
Definitions, Axioms, General Scholium]
13. LOCKE: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding [Book II]
14. HUME: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
15. KANT: Critique of Pure Reason [Prefaces, Introduction, Transcendental
Aesthetic]
16. MELVILLE: Moby Dick
17. DOSTOEVSKY: The Brothers Karamazov [Part III-IV]
18. JAMES: Principles of Psychology [Ch. XV, XX]
19 CALVIN – Institutes of the Christian Religion [Book III]
20 FRAZER – The Golden Bough [Selections]
21 HEISENBERG – Physics and Philosophy [ch 1 - 6]
FIFTH YEAR
1. PLATO: Phaedo
2. ARISTOTLE: Categories
3. ARISTOTLE: On the Soul [Book II, Ch. 1-3; Book III]
4. HIPPOCRATES: The Oath; On Ancient Medicine; On Airs, Waters, and Places;
The Book of Prognostics; Of the Epidemics; The Law; On the Sacred Disease
5. GALEN: On the Natural Faculties
6. VIRGIL: The Aeneid
7. PTOLEMY: The Almagest [Book I, Ch. 1-8]
8. COPERNICUS: Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres [Introduction—Book I-
Ch. 11]
9. KEPLER: Epitome of Copernican Astronomy [Book IV, Part II, Ch. 1-2]
10. PLOTINUS: Sixth Ennead
11. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I, QQ 75-76, 78-79]
12. DANTE: The Divine Comedy [Hell]
13. HARVEY: The Motion of the Heart and Blood
14. CERVANTES: Don Quixote [Part I]
15. SPINOZA: Ethics [Part II]
16. BERKELEY: The Principles of Human Knowledge
17. KANT: Critique of Pure Reason [Transcendental Analytic]
18. DARWIN: The Origin of Species [Introduction—Ch. 6, Ch. 15]
19. TOLSTOY: War and Peace [Book I-VIII]
20. JAMES: Principles of Psychology [Ch. XXVIII]
21 DEWEY – Experience and Education
22 WADDINGTON – The Nature of Life
23 ORWELL – Animal Farm
SIXTH YEAR
1. OLD TESTAMENT [Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy]
2. HOMER: The Odyssey
3. PLATO: Laws [Book X]
4. ARISTOTLE: Metaphysics [Book XII]
5. TACITUS: The Histories
6. PLOTINUS: Fifth Ennead
7. ST. AUGUSTINE: The City of God [Book XV-XVIII]
8. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I, QQ 1-13]
9. DANTE: The Divine Comedy [Purgatory]
10. SHAKESPEARE: Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It,
Twelfth Night
11. SPINOZA: Ethics [Part I]
12. MILTON: Samson Agonistes
13. PASCAL: The Provincial Letters
14. LOCKE: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding [Book IV]
15. GIBBON: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire [Ch. 1-5, General
Observations on the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West]
16. KANT: Critique of Pure Reason [Transcendental Dialectic]
17. HEGEL: Philosophy of History [Introduction]
18. TOLSTOY: War and Peace [Book IX-XV, Epilogues]
19 KIERKEGAARD – Fear and Trembling
20 HUIZINGA – The Waning of the Middle Ages [I - X]
21 SHAW – Saint Joan
SEVENTH YEAR
1. OLD TESTAMENT [Job, Isaiah, Amos]
2. PLATO: Symposium
3. PLATO: Philebus
4. ARISTOTLE: Ethics [Book VIII-X]
5. ARCHIMEDES: Measurement of a Circle, The Equilibrium of Planes [Book I],
The Sand-Reckoner, On Floating Bodies [Book I]
6. EPICTETUS: Discourses
7. PLOTINUS: First Ennead
8. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I-II, QQ 1-5]
9. DANTE: The Divine Comedy [Paradise]
10. RABELAIS: Gargantual and Pantagruel [Book III-IV]
11. SHAKESPEARE: Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus
12. GALILEO: Two New Sciences [First Day]
13. SPINOZA: Ethics [Part IV-V]
14. NEWTON: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy [Book III, Rules],
Optics [Book I, Part I; Book III, Queries]
15. HUYGENS: Treatise on Light
16. KANT: Critique of Practical Reason
17. KANT: Critique of Judgment [Critique of Aesthetic Judgment]
18. MILL: Utilitarianism
19 WEBER – Essays in Sociology [Part III]
20 PROUST – Swann in Love
21 BRECHT – Mother Courage and Her Children
EIGHTH YEAR
1. ARISTOPHANES: Thesmophoriazusae, Ecclesiazusae, Plutus
2. PLATO: Gorgias
3. ARISTOTLE: Ethics [Book V]
4. ARISTOTLE: Rhetoric [Book I, Ch. 1—Book II, Ch. 1; Book II, Ch. 20—Book III,
Ch. 1; Book III, Ch. 13-19]
5. ST. AUGUSTINE: On Christian Doctrine
6. HOBBES: Leviathan [Part II]
7. SHAKESPEARE: Othello, King Lear
8. BACON: Advancement of Learning [Book I, Ch. 1—Book II, Ch. 11]
9. DESCARTES: Meditations on the First Philosophy
10. SPINOZA: Ethics [Part III]
11. LOCKE: A Letter Concerning Toleration
12. ROUSSEAU: A Discourse on Political Economy
13. ADAM SMITH: The Wealth of Nations [Book II]
14. BOSWELL: The Life of Samuel Johnson
15. MARX: Capital [Prefaces, Part I-II]
16. GOETHE: Faust [Part I]
17. JAMES: Principles of Psychology [Ch. VIII-X]
18 STERNE: Tristam Shandy
19 BARTH – The Word of God and the Word of Man [I - IV]
20 BERGSON – An Introduction to Metaphysics
21 HARDY – A Mathematicians Apology
22 KAFKA – The Metamorphosis
1. HOMER: The Iliad
2. AESCHYLUS: Agamemnon, Choephoroe, Eumenides
3. SOPHOCLES: Oedipus the King, Antigone
4. HERODOTUS: The History [Book I-II]
5. PLATO: Meno
6. ARISTOTLE: Poetics
7. ARISTOTLE: Ethics [Book II; Book III, Ch. 5-12; Book VI, Ch. 8-13]
8. NICOMACHUS: Introduction to Arithmetic
9. LUCRETIUS: On the Nature of Things [Book I-IV]
10. MARCUS AURELIUS: Meditations
11. HOBBES: Leviathan [Part I]
12. MILTON: Areopagitica
13. PASCAL: Pensées [Numbers 72, 82-83, 100, 128, 131, 139, 142-143, 171, 194-
195, 219, 229, 233-234, 242, 273, 277, 282, 289, 298, 303, 320, 323, 325, 330-331,
374, 385, 392, 395-397, 409, 412-413, 416, 418, 425, 430, 434-435, 463, 491, 525-
531, 538, 543, 547, 553, 556, 564, 571, 586, 598, 607-610, 613, 619-620, 631, 640,
644, 673, 675, 684, 692-693, 737, 760, 768, 792-793]
14. PASCAL: Treatise on the Arithmetical Triangle
15. SWIFT: Gulliver's Travels
16. ROUSSEAU: A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
17. KANT: Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals
18. MILL: On Liberty
19 VOLTAIRE – Candide
20 NIETZSCHE – Beyond Good and Evil
21 WHITEHEAD – Science and the Modern World [Ch I – VI]
THIRD YEAR
1. AESCHYLUS: Prometheus Bound
2. HERODOTUS: The History [Book VII-IX]
3. THUCYDIDES: The History of the Peloponnesian War [Book I-II, V]
4. PLATO: Statesman
5. ARISTOTLE: On Interpretation [Ch. 1-10]
6. ARISTOTLE: Politics [Book III-V]
7. EUCLID: Elements [Book I]
8. TACITUS: The Annals
9. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I-II, QQ 90-97]
10. CHAUCER: Troilus and Cressida
11. SHAKESPEARE: Macbeth
12. MILTON: Paradise Lost
13. LOCKE: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding [Book III, Ch. 1-3, 9-11]
14. KANT: Science of Right
15. MILL: Representative Government [Ch. 1-6]
16. LAVOISIER: Elements of Chemistry [Part I]
17. DOSTOEVSKY: The Brothers Karamazov [Part I-II]
18. FREUD: The Origin and Development of Psychoanalysis
19 TWAIN – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
20 LEVI-STRAUSS – Structural Anthropology [Selections]
21 POINCARÉ – Science and Hypothesis [Part I - II]
FOURTH YEAR
1. EURIPIDES: Medea, Hippolytus, Trojan Women, The Bacchantes
2. PLATO: Republic [Book VI-VII]
3. PLATO: Theaetetus
4. ARISTOTLE: Physics [Book IV, Ch. 1-5, 10-14]
5. ARISTOTLE: Metaphysics [Book I, Ch. 1-2; Book IV; Book VI, Ch. 1; Book XI, Ch.
1-4]
6. ST. AUGUSTINE: Confessions [Book IX-XIII]
7. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I, QQ 16-17, 84-88]
8. MONTAIGNE: Apology for Raymond de Sebonde
9. GALILEO: Two New Sciences [Third Day, through Scholium of Theorem II]
10. BACON: Novum Organum [Preface, Book I]
11. DESCARTES: Discourse on the Method
12. NEWTON: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy [Prefaces,
Definitions, Axioms, General Scholium]
13. LOCKE: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding [Book II]
14. HUME: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
15. KANT: Critique of Pure Reason [Prefaces, Introduction, Transcendental
Aesthetic]
16. MELVILLE: Moby Dick
17. DOSTOEVSKY: The Brothers Karamazov [Part III-IV]
18. JAMES: Principles of Psychology [Ch. XV, XX]
19 CALVIN – Institutes of the Christian Religion [Book III]
20 FRAZER – The Golden Bough [Selections]
21 HEISENBERG – Physics and Philosophy [ch 1 - 6]
FIFTH YEAR
1. PLATO: Phaedo
2. ARISTOTLE: Categories
3. ARISTOTLE: On the Soul [Book II, Ch. 1-3; Book III]
4. HIPPOCRATES: The Oath; On Ancient Medicine; On Airs, Waters, and Places;
The Book of Prognostics; Of the Epidemics; The Law; On the Sacred Disease
5. GALEN: On the Natural Faculties
6. VIRGIL: The Aeneid
7. PTOLEMY: The Almagest [Book I, Ch. 1-8]
8. COPERNICUS: Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres [Introduction—Book I-
Ch. 11]
9. KEPLER: Epitome of Copernican Astronomy [Book IV, Part II, Ch. 1-2]
10. PLOTINUS: Sixth Ennead
11. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I, QQ 75-76, 78-79]
12. DANTE: The Divine Comedy [Hell]
13. HARVEY: The Motion of the Heart and Blood
14. CERVANTES: Don Quixote [Part I]
15. SPINOZA: Ethics [Part II]
16. BERKELEY: The Principles of Human Knowledge
17. KANT: Critique of Pure Reason [Transcendental Analytic]
18. DARWIN: The Origin of Species [Introduction—Ch. 6, Ch. 15]
19. TOLSTOY: War and Peace [Book I-VIII]
20. JAMES: Principles of Psychology [Ch. XXVIII]
21 DEWEY – Experience and Education
22 WADDINGTON – The Nature of Life
23 ORWELL – Animal Farm
SIXTH YEAR
1. OLD TESTAMENT [Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy]
2. HOMER: The Odyssey
3. PLATO: Laws [Book X]
4. ARISTOTLE: Metaphysics [Book XII]
5. TACITUS: The Histories
6. PLOTINUS: Fifth Ennead
7. ST. AUGUSTINE: The City of God [Book XV-XVIII]
8. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I, QQ 1-13]
9. DANTE: The Divine Comedy [Purgatory]
10. SHAKESPEARE: Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It,
Twelfth Night
11. SPINOZA: Ethics [Part I]
12. MILTON: Samson Agonistes
13. PASCAL: The Provincial Letters
14. LOCKE: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding [Book IV]
15. GIBBON: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire [Ch. 1-5, General
Observations on the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West]
16. KANT: Critique of Pure Reason [Transcendental Dialectic]
17. HEGEL: Philosophy of History [Introduction]
18. TOLSTOY: War and Peace [Book IX-XV, Epilogues]
19 KIERKEGAARD – Fear and Trembling
20 HUIZINGA – The Waning of the Middle Ages [I - X]
21 SHAW – Saint Joan
SEVENTH YEAR
1. OLD TESTAMENT [Job, Isaiah, Amos]
2. PLATO: Symposium
3. PLATO: Philebus
4. ARISTOTLE: Ethics [Book VIII-X]
5. ARCHIMEDES: Measurement of a Circle, The Equilibrium of Planes [Book I],
The Sand-Reckoner, On Floating Bodies [Book I]
6. EPICTETUS: Discourses
7. PLOTINUS: First Ennead
8. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I-II, QQ 1-5]
9. DANTE: The Divine Comedy [Paradise]
10. RABELAIS: Gargantual and Pantagruel [Book III-IV]
11. SHAKESPEARE: Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus
12. GALILEO: Two New Sciences [First Day]
13. SPINOZA: Ethics [Part IV-V]
14. NEWTON: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy [Book III, Rules],
Optics [Book I, Part I; Book III, Queries]
15. HUYGENS: Treatise on Light
16. KANT: Critique of Practical Reason
17. KANT: Critique of Judgment [Critique of Aesthetic Judgment]
18. MILL: Utilitarianism
19 WEBER – Essays in Sociology [Part III]
20 PROUST – Swann in Love
21 BRECHT – Mother Courage and Her Children
EIGHTH YEAR
1. ARISTOPHANES: Thesmophoriazusae, Ecclesiazusae, Plutus
2. PLATO: Gorgias
3. ARISTOTLE: Ethics [Book V]
4. ARISTOTLE: Rhetoric [Book I, Ch. 1—Book II, Ch. 1; Book II, Ch. 20—Book III,
Ch. 1; Book III, Ch. 13-19]
5. ST. AUGUSTINE: On Christian Doctrine
6. HOBBES: Leviathan [Part II]
7. SHAKESPEARE: Othello, King Lear
8. BACON: Advancement of Learning [Book I, Ch. 1—Book II, Ch. 11]
9. DESCARTES: Meditations on the First Philosophy
10. SPINOZA: Ethics [Part III]
11. LOCKE: A Letter Concerning Toleration
12. ROUSSEAU: A Discourse on Political Economy
13. ADAM SMITH: The Wealth of Nations [Book II]
14. BOSWELL: The Life of Samuel Johnson
15. MARX: Capital [Prefaces, Part I-II]
16. GOETHE: Faust [Part I]
17. JAMES: Principles of Psychology [Ch. VIII-X]
18 STERNE: Tristam Shandy
19 BARTH – The Word of God and the Word of Man [I - IV]
20 BERGSON – An Introduction to Metaphysics
21 HARDY – A Mathematicians Apology
22 KAFKA – The Metamorphosis
NINTH YEAR
1. PLATO: The Sophist
2. THUCYDIDES: The History of the Peloponnesian War [Book VII-VIII]
3. ARISTOTLE: Politics [Book VII-VIII]
4. NEW TESTAMENT [The Gospel According to St. John, The Epistle of Paul the
Apostle to the Romans, The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians]
5. ST. AUGUSTINE: The City of God [Book V, XIX]
6. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part II-II, QQ 1-7]
7. GILBERT: On the Loadstone
8. DESCARTES: Rules for the Direction of the Mind
9. DESCARTES: Geometry
10. PASCAL: The Great Experiment Concerning the Equilibrium of Fluids, On
Geometrical Demonstration
11. MONTESQUIEU: The Spirit of Laws [Book I-V, VIII, XI-XII]
12. FARADAY: Experimental Researches in Electricity [Series I-II], A Speculation
Touching Electric Conduction and the Nature of Matter
13. HEGEL: Philosophy of Right [Part III
14. MARX: Capital [Part III-IV]
15. FREUD: Civilization and Its Discontents
16 APOLLONIUS: On Conic Sections [Book I, Prop. 1-15; Book III, Prop. 42-55]
17 FIELDING: Tom Jones
18 FOURIER: Analytical Theory of Heat [Preliminary Discourse, Ch. 1-2]
19 MOLIÈRE – Tartuffe
20 AUSTEN – Emma
21 PLANCK – Scientific Autobiography
22 VEBLEN – The Theory of the Leisure Class
23 JOYCE – A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
24 HEMINGWAY – The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber
TENTH YEAR
1. SOPHOCLES: Ajax, Electra
2. PLATO: Timaeus
3. ARISTOTLE: On the Parts of Animals [Book I, Ch. 1—Book II, Ch. 1], On the
Generation of Animals [Book I, Ch. 1, 17-18, 20-23]
4. LUCRETIUS: On the Nature of Things [Book V-VI]
5. VIRGIL: The Eclogues, The Georgics
6. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I, QQ 65-74]
7. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I, QQ 90-102]
8. CHAUCER: Canterbury Tales [Prologue, Knight's Tale, Miller's Prologue and
Tale, Reeve's Prologue and Tale, Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale, Friar's
Prologue and Tale, Summoner's Prologue and Tale, Pardoner's Prologue and Tale]
9. SHAKESPEARE: The Tragedy of King Richard II, The First Part of King Henry
IV, The Second Part of King Henry IV, The Life of King Henry V
10. HARVEY: On the Generation of Animals [Introduction—Exercise 62]
11. CERVANTES: Don Quixote [Part II]
12. KANT: Critique of Judgement [Critique of Teleological Judgement]
13. GOETHE: Faust [Part II]
14. DARWIN: The Descent of Man [Part I; Part III, Ch. 21]
15. MARX: Capital [Part VII-VIII]
16. JAMES: Principles of Psychology [Ch. I, V-VII]
17. FREUD: A General Introduction to Psycho-analysis
18 BOSWELL: The Life of Samuel Johnson
19 ERASMUS – In Praise of Folly
20 HUIZINGA – The Waning of the Middle Ages [XI – XXIII]
21 EDDINGTON – The Expanding Universe
22 T.S. ELIOT – The Waste Land
1. PLATO: The Sophist
2. THUCYDIDES: The History of the Peloponnesian War [Book VII-VIII]
3. ARISTOTLE: Politics [Book VII-VIII]
4. NEW TESTAMENT [The Gospel According to St. John, The Epistle of Paul the
Apostle to the Romans, The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians]
5. ST. AUGUSTINE: The City of God [Book V, XIX]
6. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part II-II, QQ 1-7]
7. GILBERT: On the Loadstone
8. DESCARTES: Rules for the Direction of the Mind
9. DESCARTES: Geometry
10. PASCAL: The Great Experiment Concerning the Equilibrium of Fluids, On
Geometrical Demonstration
11. MONTESQUIEU: The Spirit of Laws [Book I-V, VIII, XI-XII]
12. FARADAY: Experimental Researches in Electricity [Series I-II], A Speculation
Touching Electric Conduction and the Nature of Matter
13. HEGEL: Philosophy of Right [Part III
14. MARX: Capital [Part III-IV]
15. FREUD: Civilization and Its Discontents
16 APOLLONIUS: On Conic Sections [Book I, Prop. 1-15; Book III, Prop. 42-55]
17 FIELDING: Tom Jones
18 FOURIER: Analytical Theory of Heat [Preliminary Discourse, Ch. 1-2]
19 MOLIÈRE – Tartuffe
20 AUSTEN – Emma
21 PLANCK – Scientific Autobiography
22 VEBLEN – The Theory of the Leisure Class
23 JOYCE – A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
24 HEMINGWAY – The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber
TENTH YEAR
1. SOPHOCLES: Ajax, Electra
2. PLATO: Timaeus
3. ARISTOTLE: On the Parts of Animals [Book I, Ch. 1—Book II, Ch. 1], On the
Generation of Animals [Book I, Ch. 1, 17-18, 20-23]
4. LUCRETIUS: On the Nature of Things [Book V-VI]
5. VIRGIL: The Eclogues, The Georgics
6. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I, QQ 65-74]
7. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I, QQ 90-102]
8. CHAUCER: Canterbury Tales [Prologue, Knight's Tale, Miller's Prologue and
Tale, Reeve's Prologue and Tale, Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale, Friar's
Prologue and Tale, Summoner's Prologue and Tale, Pardoner's Prologue and Tale]
9. SHAKESPEARE: The Tragedy of King Richard II, The First Part of King Henry
IV, The Second Part of King Henry IV, The Life of King Henry V
10. HARVEY: On the Generation of Animals [Introduction—Exercise 62]
11. CERVANTES: Don Quixote [Part II]
12. KANT: Critique of Judgement [Critique of Teleological Judgement]
13. GOETHE: Faust [Part II]
14. DARWIN: The Descent of Man [Part I; Part III, Ch. 21]
15. MARX: Capital [Part VII-VIII]
16. JAMES: Principles of Psychology [Ch. I, V-VII]
17. FREUD: A General Introduction to Psycho-analysis
18 BOSWELL: The Life of Samuel Johnson
19 ERASMUS – In Praise of Folly
20 HUIZINGA – The Waning of the Middle Ages [XI – XXIII]
21 EDDINGTON – The Expanding Universe
22 T.S. ELIOT – The Waste Land
“The original editors had three criteria for including a book
in the series: the book must be relevant to contemporary matters, and not only
important in its historical context; it must be rewarding to re-read; and it
must be a part of ‘the great conversation about the great ideas’, relevant to
at least 25 of the 102 great ideas identified by the editors. The books were
not chosen on the basis of ethnic and cultural inclusiveness, historical
influence, or the editors' agreement with the views expressed by the authors,"
– Dr. Mortimer Adler
As the quote
says, the collection is purposefully not inclusive. These works are thought to
be the most influential to the current state of Western thought and opinion. Of
course, if any our readers have a difference of thought with a particular work
and wish to discuss this we are more than eager to have that conversation. If
you have books that you would recommend to read to counter the thoughts in
whatever book we are reading, please share. Just know that the reading list we
currently have is designed to span ten years, with roughly two works a month, and
we have a baby that is due in the next couple of weeks, so our time is, shall
we say, limited.
In addition,
because you cannot have a classical education without a physical component, we
also going to use this blog as a platform to discuss our foray into HEMA
(Historic European Martial Arts). Specifically, we are doing Lichtenhauer's
Kunst des Fechten. This is a recreation of a German style of fencing developed
in the 15th century.
We are also
going to attempt to teach ourselves Latin to start, and the hope that we can
also learn Ancient Greek. There are also plans to eventually get into music
theory, so if anybody has a good resource for beginners in that regard, please share.
We are under no
illusions that this is going to be easy or that we will accomplish everything
we have set out to do, so for everybody shaking their head at this, please
humor us for the time being.
The general plan
is to provide everybody with a quick summary of the work we are reading,
including author, translator, significance, and summary, before following up
with some of our thoughts and feelings about the work. We will also share
whatever experiences we have with Latin as we work our way through that. As for
HEMA, we will post what we learned in class that day, as well any reports of
participation in any tournaments or seminars outside of our regular classes.
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