Readings:
NEW TESTAMENT [The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, The
Acts of the Apostles]
FYI You can always look at the first post on here called "The Plan" to see what we are or will be reading if I am being...slow.
Date Change:
We have been meeting on the 3rd Tuesday of each month. Our most regular attendees agreed that Fridays would work as well or better for them so we made a change. This month we will meet in our usual location, the Merton's, at our usual time, 7:30, but we we meet the Friday after we were going to meet. That makes it the 24th of January and we hope to see you there. After this month, we will meet on 3rd Fridays:
Feb. 21, March 21, April 18, May 16 and so on.
I think meeting on the weekends will make it feel even more social. I like it.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
December 17th, 7:30!
December ARISTOTLE: POLITICS [Book I] Vol. 9, pp. 445-455
PLUTARCH: THE LIVES OF THE NOBLE GRECIANS AND
ROMANS [Lycurgus, Numa Pompilius, Lycurgus and Numa Com-
pared, Alexander, Caesar] Vol. 14, pp. 32-64, 540-604
(Oh goodness! Plutarch! Let's (me) get reading this so that we can really soak it up.)
Monday, November 4, 2013
Online Discussion Soon
CANCELLED - Comment if interested in doing this in the future
PLATO: APOLOGY, CRITO Vol. 7, pp. 200-219
ARISTOPHANES: CLOUDS, LYSISTRATA Vol. 5, pp. 488-506, 583-599
We will meet via zoom.us. Comment now, or sometime before the day of the colloquium, if you'd like to be invited or get a link or however we will get on there. These readings are super-interesting. You may want to check out the other posts and comments about them. Looking forward to it!
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
November Reading
I still want to comment more on last month's discussion/readings, but I should probably go ahead and list the ones for this month (below). We are still working on setting up an online discussion, but dates have been a bit tricky. I'll get back to you on it... Anyway, the reading are listed with the parts we'll focus on in brackets here, and then the volume and pages to find them in the old great books set.
It can be challenges to get started on these books if you are new to...old stuff, but don't be too intimidated. We welcome all perspectives and experience levels. This isn't about getting the "right" things out of the reading, or understanding everything all the time (or all most any of the time if it's really new to you), it's about progressing a little at a time and considering it in context with what is important to you. Last discussion we talked about everything from our own marriages (Joel!) to achieving world peace, all because that is what we were learning and interested in from our readings and from our personal experiences. If you have questions, or need general direction on understanding the context or readings themselves, please ask as a comment on here and take advantage of all of the online resources.
November 19th ColloquiumPLATO: REPUBLIC [Book I-II] Vol. 7, pp. 295-324
ARISTOTLE: ETHICS [Book I] Vol. 9, pp. 339-348
It can be challenges to get started on these books if you are new to...old stuff, but don't be too intimidated. We welcome all perspectives and experience levels. This isn't about getting the "right" things out of the reading, or understanding everything all the time (or all most any of the time if it's really new to you), it's about progressing a little at a time and considering it in context with what is important to you. Last discussion we talked about everything from our own marriages (Joel!) to achieving world peace, all because that is what we were learning and interested in from our readings and from our personal experiences. If you have questions, or need general direction on understanding the context or readings themselves, please ask as a comment on here and take advantage of all of the online resources.
November 19th ColloquiumPLATO: REPUBLIC [Book I-II] Vol. 7, pp. 295-324
ARISTOTLE: ETHICS [Book I] Vol. 9, pp. 339-348
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
October Reading
We can start discussing as comments to this post. Info on the time and location of the Corvallis
colloquium* is coming soon. We are still looking into an online group for those who live elsewhere, are
not able to make it to the colloquium or are at the discussion and cannot help but be our over-achievers.
It should take about an hour per to read this if you read every day, but that is a very general estimate, so be sure you are staying on top of it. This first reading is so interesting. Plato before a court, then with a
friend. Then, Aristophanes, a surprising comedian of Greek times, and critic of Socrates.
October 2013
PLATO: APOLOGY, CRITO Vol. 7, pp. 200-219
ARISTOPHANES: CLOUDS, LYSISTRATA Vol. 5, pp. 488-506, 583-599
*Colloquium, in this case, basically means discussion of a shared experience.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
The Plan
Welcome to the ten year plan and discussion of the Great Books of the Western World. This blog and discussion originates from the families of Corvallis Leadership Academy in Oregon. This plan will be adapted from Mortimer J. Adler's Ten Year Reading Plan (as described in the original edition of the GBWW) and will give the reader a very solid beginning or continuance to their study of great ideas.
We will meet live monthly to discuss the readings. You do not have to own a set of the GBWW, though we encourage you to get a set when possible. The group members, who would like the opportunity, will take turns leading the discussions. Everyone participating is also welcome to discuss on this blog. We invite our friends, family, community members as well as others who are interested in taking on the challenge of studying the Great Books to dive into this challenge with us at any point.
We can each decide individually whether we will replace or omit any books we have already read, listen to any on libravox or read them in other translations or formats, or adapt the plan in any other way. If you are considering replacing readings, we encourage you to do so only if you have read the scheduled reading in the past and you are replacing it with something similarly significant to The Great Conversation, and similarly challenging for you such as another writing by the same author.
Also, there is an updated version of the Ten Year Reading Plan with more writings from minorities and women. It requires more reading than the other plan. You may want to adapt your personal reading schedule to include some or all of those readings.
In ten years you will have either read these books or not. If you do, you will have an excellent introduction to "The Great Conversation."
Here are some specifics*:
Are you shaking with excitement?? We are about to embark. (You can do it one step at a time!)
We will meet live monthly to discuss the readings. You do not have to own a set of the GBWW, though we encourage you to get a set when possible. The group members, who would like the opportunity, will take turns leading the discussions. Everyone participating is also welcome to discuss on this blog. We invite our friends, family, community members as well as others who are interested in taking on the challenge of studying the Great Books to dive into this challenge with us at any point.
We can each decide individually whether we will replace or omit any books we have already read, listen to any on libravox or read them in other translations or formats, or adapt the plan in any other way. If you are considering replacing readings, we encourage you to do so only if you have read the scheduled reading in the past and you are replacing it with something similarly significant to The Great Conversation, and similarly challenging for you such as another writing by the same author.
Also, there is an updated version of the Ten Year Reading Plan with more writings from minorities and women. It requires more reading than the other plan. You may want to adapt your personal reading schedule to include some or all of those readings.
In ten years you will have either read these books or not. If you do, you will have an excellent introduction to "The Great Conversation."
Here are some specifics*:
FIRST YEAR
October 2013
PLATO: APOLOGY, CRITO Vol. 7, pp. 200-219
ARISTOPHANES: CLOUDS, LYSISTRATA Vol. 5, pp. 488-506, 583-599
November PLATO: REPUBLIC [Book I-II] Vol. 7, pp. 295-324 ARISTOTLE: ETHICS [Book I] Vol. 9, pp. 339-348 December ARISTOTLE: POLITICS [Book I] Vol. 9, pp. 445-455 PLUTARCH: THE LIVES OF THE NOBLE GRECIANS AND ROMANS [Lycurgus, Numa Pompilius, Lycurgus and Numa Com- pared, Alexander, Caesar] Vol. 14, pp. 32-64, 540-604 January 2014 NEW TESTAMENT [The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, The Acts of the Apostles] February ST. AUGUSTINE: CONFESSIONS [Book I-VIII] Vol. 1 8, pp. i -6 1 MACHIAVELLI: THE PRINCE Vol. 23, pp. 1-37 March RABELAIS: GARGANTUA AND PANTAGRUEL [Book I-II] Vol. 24, pp. 1-126 April & May 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] Vol. 25, pp. 42-51, 55-82, 91-98, 115-125, 406-434
June SHAKESPEARE: HAMLET Vol. 27, pp. 29-72
LOCKE: CONCERNING CIVIL GOVERNMENT [Second Essay] Vol. 35, pp. 25-81
July ROUSSEAU: THE SOCIAL CONTRACT [Book I-II] Vol. 38, pp. 387-406
GIBBON: THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE [Ch. 15-16] Vol. 40, pp. 179-234
August THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, THE CONSTITU-
TION OP THE UNITED STATES, THE FEDERALIST [Numbers i-io, 15, 31, 47, 51, 68-71] Vol. 43, pp. 1-3, 11-20, 29-53, 62-66, 103-105, 153-156, 162-165, 205-216
September SMITH: THE WEALTH OF NATIONS [Introduction Book I,
Ch. 9 ] Vol. 39, pp. 1-41
MARX-ENGELS: MANIFESTO OP THE COMMUNIST PARTY Vol. 50, pp. 415-434
Are you shaking with excitement?? We are about to embark. (You can do it one step at a time!)
*Here are links to the plans we will be loosely following:
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