It lets me know about books I've never heard of and marries these to people whose judgment I trust.
So, for example, I'll probably read the Lewontin book on ravi's list.
I see nothing inherently evil in this.
Joanna
----- Original Message ----- If I recall correctly, St. Johns College had a curriculum wholly grounded in "The Great Books." And it was by no means posited as a goal of the education of the many -- I was admitted to Chicago, but there was no way I could afford it. So I attended Western Michigan College of Education instead. I think there are still those possessed by the delusion of "Essential Reading for the Good Life" or something like that. See Alan Bloom's bizarre book. Some still take it seriously.
You have heard of "muscular Christianity." The Great Books were muscular humanism.
Carrol
-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org] On Behalf Of Jim Farmelant Sent: Saturday, February 04, 2012 8:49 AM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Essential Reading - Hah!
On Sat, 4 Feb 2012 15:37:08 +0200 Joseph Catron <jncatron at gmail.com>
writes:
> On Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 11:04 PM, Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote:
>
> As many histories have pointed out, as late as the mid-18th-c it was
> widely
> > assumed that a list of books existed which all "educated men"
> shared in
> > common.
>
>
> How does this differ from the "great books" concept, which arose in
> the
> United States in the 1920s and 30s?
R obert Hutchins and Mortimer Adler were among the leading advocates of that, and they had a rather specific agenda behind this which was based on Adler's neo-Thomism.
>
>
> > Anyone who has not read Wellek, Frye, & Tamas is of course not
> competent to
> > engage in this discussion.
>
>
> Maybe not, but try and stop me!
Anyone who has not read Farmelant is not competent to engage in ANY discussion on this list.
Jim Farmelant http://independent.academia.edu/JimFarmelant www.foxymath.com Learn or Review Basic Math
>
> --
> "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure
> mægen
> lytlað."
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
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