“To read is an act of creation in which no one can do our work for us.” —Proust
Please visit the Online Class Schedule to view the Academic Calendar and specific dates.
| Great Books of the Ancient Greeks I First Semester |
Great Books of the Ancient Greeks II Second Semester |
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| Weekly Readings | Weekly Readings | ||
| Before the first class read the article The Great Conversation, Theogony by Hesiod and Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus (we will send you links to these). | |||
| Week 1 Hour 1: Intro to the Great Books & Socratic Discussion, and The Great Conversation article by Robert Hutchins and/or Mortimer AdlerHour 2: Theogony – Hesiod; Prometheus Bound – Aeschylus |
Week 18 Peloponnesian War* -Thucydides |
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| Week 2 The Iliad – Homer |
Week 19 Peloponnesian War* -Thucydides |
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| Week 3 The Iliad – Homer |
Week 20 Fragments* – Presocratic Philosophers |
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| Week 4 The Odyssey – Homer |
Week 21 Ion, Meno – Plato |
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| Week 5 The Odyssey – Homer |
Week 22 Gorgias – Plato |
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| Week 6 Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, Eumenides – Aeschylus |
Week 23 Republic* – Plato |
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| Week 7 Trojan Women, Alcestis – Euripedes |
Week 24 Republic* – Plato |
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| Week 8 Aesop’s Fables* –Aesop |
Week 25 Symposium – Plato |
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| Week 9 Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus –Sophocles |
Week 26 Apology, Euthyphro – Plato |
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| Week 10 Antigone – Sophocles, Hippolytus – Euripides |
Week 27 Crito, Phaedo – Plato |
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| Week 11 Histories* – Herodotus |
Week 28 Poetics, On the Heavens*, On the Soul* – Aristotle |
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| Week 12 Histories* – Herodotus |
Week 29 Ethics*, Metaphysics* -Aristotle |
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| Week 13 Thanksgiving week – No classes on Thurs. and Friday |
Week 30 Spring Break |
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| Week 14 Histories* – Herodotus |
Week 31 Aristides, Alexander -Plutarch |
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| Week 15 Lycurgus, Solon, Pericles, Alcibiades -Plutarch |
Week 32 The Oath, On Ancient Medicine, On Airs, Waters, Places – Hippocrates |
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| Week 16 Medea, Bacchae – Euripedes |
Week 33 Elements*, Euclid |
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| Week 17 Oral Exams |
Week 34 Oral Exams *Selections Only |
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| Great Books of the Ancient Romans First Semester |
Great Books of the Ancient Romans to the Early Middle Ages Second Semester |
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| Weekly Readings | Weekly Readings |
| Week 1 Aeneid – Virgil |
Week 17 New Testament* |
| Week 2 Aeneid – Virgil |
Week 18 Apocalypse (Book of Revelation)- St. John |
| Week 3 Livy* |
Week 19 Confessions – Augustine |
| Week 4 Livy* |
Week 20 Confessions – Augustine |
| Week 5 Plutarch: Romulus, Numa Pomulus, Coriolanus, Caesar |
Week 21 Consolation of Philosophy – Boethius |
| Week 6 Conquest of Gaul –Caesar |
Week 22 City of God* – St.Augustine |
| Week 7 Plutarch: Cato the Younger, Antony, Brutus, Cicero |
Week 23 City of God* – St.Augustine |
| Week 8 On Friendship, On Duties – Cicero |
Week 24 Qu’ran* – Muhammed |
| Week 9 Annals* – Tacitus |
Week 25 History of the English People – Bede |
| Week 10 On the Nature of Things* – Lucretius |
Week 26 Sir Galahad – Tennyson Sir Gawain and the Green Knight |
| Week 11 Discourses*- Epictitus Meditations* – Marcus Aurelius |
Week 27 Memoirs of the Crusades; Crusade of St. Louis – Al-Makrisi |
| Week 12 Almagest – Ptolemy |
Week 28 Imitation of Christ -Kempis |
| Week 13 On the Natural Faculties – Galen |
Week 29 Spring Break |
| Week 14 Enneads* – Plotinus |
Week 30 The Divine Comedy- Dante |
| Week 15 Old Testament –Genesis |
Week 31 The Divine Comedy- Dante |
| Week 16 Oral exams |
Week 32 The Divine Comedy- Dante |
| Week 33 Oral Exams*Selections Only |
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| Great Books of the High Middle Ages to the Renaissance First Semester |
Great Books of the Renaissance to the Enlightenment Second Semester |
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| Weekly Readings | Weekly Readings |
| Week 1 Canterbury Tales -Chaucer |
Week 16 Don Quixote* – Ceravantes |
| Week 2 Canterbury Tales -Chaucer |
Week 17 A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream; Shakespeare |
| Week 3 Aquinas* |
Week 18 The Taming of the Shrew -William Shakespeare |
| Week 4 Aquinas* |
Week 19 Coriolanus – Shakespeare |
| Week 5 Aquinas* |
Week 20 Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila |
| Week 6 Aquinas* |
Week 21 Julius Caesar – Shakespeare |
| Week 7 Aquinas* |
Week 22 Othello – Shakespeare |
| Week 8 The Prince -Machiavelli |
Week 23 The Merchant of Venice – Shakespeare |
| Week 9 Utopia – Sir Thomas More |
Week 24 Henry V – Shakespeare |
| Week 10 Praise of Folly– Erasmus |
Week 25 Rules for the Direction of the Mind*, Discourse on Method*, Meditations-Descartes |
| Week 11 On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres*– Copernicus |
Week 26 The New Atlantis and Novum Organum* – Bacon |
| Week 12 Institutes of the Christian Religion* -Calvin |
Week 27 Leviathan* – Hobbes |
| Week 13 Essays* – Montaigne |
Week 28 Spring Break – (April 15 – 19) |
| Week 14 Don Quixote* -Cervantes |
Week 29 Paradise Lost – Milton |
| Week 15 Oral Exams |
Week 30 Paradise Lost – Milton |
| Week 31 Pensees* – Pascal |
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| Week 32 Romeo & Juliet – Shakespeare |
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| Great Books of the Enlightenment to the Modern Era First Semester |
Great Books of the Modern Era Second Semester |
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| Weekly Readings | Weekly Readings |
| Week 1 Hamlet – Shakespeare |
Week 17 Emma – Jane Austen |
| Week 2 Macbeth – Shakespeare |
Week 18 Critique of Pure Reason* Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals* Immanuel Kant |
| Week 3 King Lear – Shakespeare |
Week 19 Faust – Goethe |
| Week 4 Tartuffe – Moliere Phaedra, Racine |
Week 20 Philosophy of Right* The Philosophy of History* -Georg Hegel |
| Week 5 The Tempest – Shakespeare |
Week 21 War and Peace* – Tolstoy |
| Week 6 Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift |
Week 22 War and Peace* – Tolstoy |
| Week 7 Essay Concerning Human Knowledge* Second Essay on Civil Government* Letter on Toleration* –John Locke |
Week 23 The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Mikailovich Dostoevsky |
| Week 8 Essay Concerning Human Knowledge* Second Essay on Civil Government* Letter on Toleration* –John Locke |
Week 24 The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Mikailovich Dostoevsky |
| Week 9 Life of Samuel Johnson – Boswell |
Week 25 Wealth of Nations* – Adam Smith Communist Manifesto |
| Week 10 An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding* Treatise of Human Nature* Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion* – David Hume |
Week 26 1st & 2nd Inaugural Addresses Gettysburg Address Emancipation Proclamation – Abraham Lincoln |
| Week 11 The Social Contract* On the Origin of Inequality* – Jean-Jacques Rousseau |
Week 27 Representative Government – Mills Civil Disobedience – Henry David Thoreau |
| Week 12 U.S. Declaration of Independence Articles of Confederation, & The Constitution |
Week 28 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain |
| Week 13 Thanksgiving week, no classes |
Week 29 Spring Break (April 15 – 19) |
| Week 14 The Federalist Papers) – De Tocqueville |
Week 30 The Origin of Species* – Charles Darwin |
| Week 15 Democracy in America*, – De Tocqueville Representative Government*, J.S, Mill |
Week 31
Nineteen Eighty Four -George Orwell |
| Week 16 Oral Exams (Dec. 12 – 23) |
Week 32 Relativity: The Special and General Theory – Einstein |
| *Selections Only | Week 33 My Antonia – Willa Cather |
