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April 5, 2007
I Feel Smarter Already
Thanks to L and Becky, I've joined a secular Great Books discussion group. We're going to read through the Britannica Great Books of the Western World in 7 or 8 years.
I feel smarter already.
This month's reading assignments consist of a little Plato, some Aristotle, and a couple of Aristophanes' plays. I've finished the initial readings already. Now I get to go back and think about what I've read.
Plato (The Apology, Crito, and books I and II of The Republic) was easy, entertaining, and horrifying. I had never read The Republic before. What a scary little text that is.
Aristophanes is funny, and I've read him before, though I don't like the translations they chose for the Great Books: the meter of The Clouds literally put me to sleep this afternoon, and I'm pretty sure they've cut some of the naughty bits out of Lysistrata.
Aristotle, though ... this month's assignment is to read Book I of Nichomachean Ethics. I read it. It was all I could do to keep my eyes on the page. It was difficult and boring, and in the end all I think I understood was that kids can't be happy because they don't have experience, and that happiness consists of virtuous acts. It took him 20 pages to say this. I have to say that so far, I don't look forward to more Aristotle. Does he get better?
I found the entire set of the GBoTWW for a decent price on Ebay. When they arrived I told my kids, "You know, if we did nothing else for school but read these books, you'd have a great education!"
They gazed up at the 52 volumes and quietly ... slipped ... away. You could almost hear them thinking: "Maybe if we move quietly, she won't make us start reading them now." Heh. Aren't they cute?
Posted by lynx at April 5, 2007 3:55 PM
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Comments
There's a reason I recommended "Squashed Philosophers" to you. A Philosopher can't say something in 10 words, if he can say it in 200 instead.
I have to get another copy for myself since a bottle of Dr. Pepper got spilled on mine :(
http://www.btinternet.com/~glynhughes/squashed/aristotle.htm
Posted by: Mark L ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.caerdroia.org/116/nav-commenters.gif)
at April 5, 2007 5:10 PM
Hey, weren't you going to get me the list of stuff so I could read along, too?
Posted by: Jeff Medcalf at April 5, 2007 5:29 PM
rofl
I think mine would pack up their Lego and run away from home...
Posted by: Becky at April 5, 2007 7:10 PM