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Western Canon

Western canon

The Western canon is a canon of books and art (and specifically one with very loose boundaries) that is thought by many to have been highly influential in shaping Western culture. The selection of a canon is important to the theory of educational perennialism. Examples of canonical lists include:
- The Harvard Classics
- Great Books of the Western World
- [http://web.archive.org/web/20040717050657/http://www.literarycritic.com/bloom.htm Harold Bloom's canon] University reading lists are also good indicators of what is considered to be in the Western canon:
- St. John's College reading list

Origins

The process of listmaking—defining the boundaries of the canon—is endless. One of the notable attempts in the English-speaking world was the Great Books of the Western World program. This program, developed in the middle third of the 20th century, grew out of the curriculum at the University of Chicago. University president Robert Hutchins and his collaborator Mortimer Adler developed a program that offered reading lists, books, and organizational strategies for reading clubs to the general public. An earlier attempt, the Harvard Classics (1909) was promulgated by Harvard University president Charles W. Eliot, whose thesis was the same as Carlyle's: :... The greatest university of all is a collection of books. --Thomas Carlyle

Debate

There has been an ongoing, intensely political debate over the nature and status of the canon since at least the 1960s. In the USA, in particular, it has been attacked as a compendium of books written mainly by "dead white European males", that thus do not represent the viewpoints of many others in contemporary societies around the world. Others, notably Allan Bloom in his 1987 book The Closing of the American Mind, have fought back vigorously. Authors such as Yale Professor of Humanities Harold Bloom (no relation) have also spoken strongly in favor of the canon, and in general the canon remains as a represented idea in most institutions, though its implications continue to be debated heavily. Defenders maintain that those who undermine the canon do so out of primarily political interests, and that the measure of quality represented by the works of the canon is of an aesthetic rather than political nature. Thus, any political objections aimed at the canon are ultimately irrelevant. One of the main objections to a canon of literature is the question of authority—who should enjoy the power to determine what works are worth reading and teaching?

Works

Works which are commonly included in the canon include works of fiction such as epic poems, poetry, music, drama, novels, and other assorted forms of literature from the many, diverse Western (and more recently non-Western) cultures. Many non-fiction works are also listed, primarily from the areas of religion, science, philosophy, economics, politics, and history. Works which directly address the canon (both for and against):
- The History of Western Literature by Otto Maria Carpeaux
- Shakespeare by Harold Bloom
- The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages by Harold Bloom
- The Dead Father by Donald Barthelme

External links

- [http://home.comcast.net/~dwtaylor1/theocraticcanon.html "Harold Bloom's canon"]
- [http://www.centerforbookculture.org/context/no7/white.html All That You Know Not to Be Is Utterly Real, Part I by Curtis White]
- [http://www.thegreatideas.org/ "Great Ideas" Website]
- [http://books.mirror.org/gb.home.html A "Great Books" Website]
- [http://westerncanon.com Western Canon Great Books University] Category:Books Category:Literature

Canon (collection)

Canon may mean: In religion:
- Canon law, all legislation adopted by an ecumenical council of the Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches
- Canon (priest), a form of Christian priest
- Canon, a collection of texts accepted by a religious community as authoritative or divinely inspired, such as: :
- Biblical canon :
- Taoist canon :
- Tripitaka Other uses:
- Canon (music), a contrapuntal composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations
- Canon is another word for the Mediæval psaltery, a stringed instrument
- Canon (fiction), the body of works that are considered to be "genuine" or "official" within a certain fictional universe. In many instances, it's mistaken for 'cannon', which has of course an entirely different meaning.
- Canon Inc., a Japanese corporation that specialises in imaging and optical products.
- Literary canon, a body of literature which is widely considered to define a certain civilization, such as: :
- Western canon :
- Chinese classic texts :
- Geek canon ja:カノン ko:카논

Art

Art (or the creative arts) commonly refers to the act and process of making material works (or artworks) which, from concept to creation, hold a fidelity to the creative impulse —ie. 'art' is work distinct from creative work that is driven by necessity (ie. vocation), by biological drive (i.e. procreation), or (in art-purist contexts) by any undisciplined pursuit of recreation. The creative arts essentially denotes a collection of disciplines whose principal purpose (or sole purpose) is in the output of material whose creation is compelled by a personal drive —untainted by materialist, gratuitous, or wanton concerns—and echoing or reflecting a message, mood, and symbology for the viewer to interpret. As such, the term 'art' may be taken to include forms as diverse as prose writing, poetry, dance, acting, music (both performance and creation), sculpture and painting. In common parlance, 'art' is most commonly used to refer to the visual arts —in particular painting, drawing, and sculpting.
Etymology
The word art derives from the Latin ars, which, loosely translated, means "arrangement" or "to arrange". This is the only universal definition of art, that whatever is described as such has undergone a deliberate process of arrangement by an agent. A few examples where this meaning proves very broad include artifact, artificial, artifice, artillery, medical arts, and military arts. However, there are many other colloquial uses of the word, all with some relation to its etymological roots.
Currently recognized forms of art
There are a variety of arts, including visual arts and design, decorative arts, plastic arts, and the performing arts. Artistic expression takes many forms, painting, drawing, sculpture, music, literature, performance art, printmaking, film, and possibly architecture are the most widely recognised forms. However, since the advent of modernism and the technological revolution, new forms have emerged. These include, photography, comics, video art, installation art, conceptual art, land art, computer art and, most recently, video games. Within each form, a wide range of genres may exist. For instance, a painting may be a still life, a portrait, a landscape and may deal with historical or domestic subjects. In addition, a work of art may be representational or abstract. Most forms of art fit under two main categories: fine arts and applied arts, though there is no clear dividing line. In the visual arts, fine arts refers to painting, sculpture, and architecture, arts which have no practical function and are valued in terms of the visual pleasure they provide or their success in communicating ideas or feelings. The one exception is architecture, which involves designing structures that strive to be both attractive and functional. The term applied arts is most often used to describe the design or decoration of functional objects to make them visually pleasing. Artists who create applied arts or crafts are usually referred to as designers, artisans, or craftspeople.
Defining art
There is often confusion about the meaning of the term art because multiple meanings of the word are used interchangeably. Individuals use the word art to identify painting, as well as singing.
General characteristics of art
There follow some generally accepted characteristics of art; after this there is some lengthier discussion of several of those facets perceived as universal or central to art:
- encourages an intuitive understanding rather than a rational understanding, as, for example, with an article in a scientific journal;
- was created with the intention of evoking such an understanding, or an attempt at such an understanding, in the audience;
- elusive, in that the work may communicate on many different levels of appreciation; one may take the example of Gericault's Raft of the Medusa, in the case of which special knowledge concerning the shipwreck the painting depicts is not a prerequisite to appreciating it, but allows the appreciation of Gericault's political intentions in the piece;
- in relation to the above, the piece may offer itself to many different interpretations, or, though it superficially depicts a mundane event or object, invites reflection upon elevated themes;
- demonstrates a high level of ability or fluency within a medium; this characteristic might be considered a point of contention, since many modern artists (most notably, conceptual artists) do not themselves create the works they conceive, or do not even create the work in a conventional, demonstrative sense (one might think of Tracey Emin's controversial My Bed);
- the conferral of a particularly appealing or aesthetically satisfying structure or form upon an original set of unrelated, passive constituents.
Skill
Art can connote a sense of trained ability or mastery of a medium. It can also simply refer to the developed and efficient use of a language so as to convey meaning, with immediacy and or depth. A common view is that the epithet 'art' (particular in its elevated sense) requires a certain level of creative expertise by the artist, whether this be a demonstration of technical ability (such as one might find in many works of the Rennaisance or in the plays of Shakespeare) or an originality in stylistic approach, or a combination of these two. For example, a common contemporary criticism of some modern painting occurs along the lines of objecting to the apparent lack of skill or ability required in the production of the artistic object. One might take Emin's My Bed or Hirst's The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, as examples of pieces wherein the artist exercised little to no traditionally recognised sets of skills. It should be noted that this is for varying reasons: in the first case, Emin simply slept (and engaged in other activities) in her bed before simply placing the result in a gallery; in the second, Hirst came up with the conceptual design for the artwork, and left its eventual creation to employued artisans. These approaches are exemplary of a particular kind of contemporary art, that being conceptual art. The exclusionary view that art requires a certain skill level to produce is often described as a lay critique and derives from the fact that in Western culture at least, art has traditionally been pushed in the direction of representationalism, the literal presentation of reality through literal images. On the other hand, criticism has often been brought to bear on modern artists for having no creative involvement whatsoever in their creations: one might take Hirst's work again as emblematic of this approach.
Judgments of value
Somewhat in relation to the above, the word art is also used to apply judgments of value, as in such expressions as "that meal was a work of art" (the cook is an artist), or "the art of deception," (the highly attained level of skill of the deceiver is praised). It is this use of the word as a measure of high quality and high value that gives the term its flavor of subjectivity. Making judgments of value requires a basis for criticism: at the simplest level, a way to determine whether the impact of the object on the senses meets the criteria to be considered art, whether it is perceived to be attractive or repellent. Though perception is always colored by experience, and thus a reaction to art on these grounds is necessarily subjective, it is commonly taken that that which is not aesthetically satisfying in some fashion cannot be art. However, "good" art is not always, or even regularly, aesthetically appealing to a majority of viewers. In other words, an artist's prime motivation need not be the pursuit of the aesthetic, and art often depicts terrible images made for social, moral, or thought-provoking reasons; for example, Francisco Goya's painting depicting the Spanish shootings of 3rd of May 1808 is a graphic depiction of a firing squad executing several pleading civilians, yet at the same time, the horrific imagery demonstrates Goya's keen artistic ability in composition and execution, and his fitting social and polical outrage. Thus the debate continues as to what mode of aesthetic satisfaction, if any, is required to define'art'. It should also be noted that the assumption of new values or the rebellion against accepted notions of what is aesthetically superior need not occur concurrently with a complete abandonment of the pursuit of that which is aesthetically appealing. Indeed, the reverse is often true, that in the revision of what is popularly conceived of as being aesthetically appealing allows for a re-invigoration of aesthetic sensibility, and a new appreciation for the standards of art itself. Countless schools have proposed their own ways to define quality, yet they all seem to agree in at least one point: once their aesthetic choices are accepted, the value of the work of art is determined by its capacity to transcend the limits of its chosen medium in order to strike some universal chord, or by the rarity of the skill of the artist, or in its accurate reflection in what is termed the zeitgeist.
Communicating emotion
Art appeals to human emotions. It can arouse aesthetic or moral feelings, and can be understood as a way of communicating these feelings. Artists have to express themselves so that their public is aroused, but they do not have to do so consciously. Art explores what is commonly termed as the human condition; that is, essentially, what it is to be human, and art of a superior kind often brings about some new insight concerning humanity (not always positive) or demonstrates a level of skill so fine as to push forward the boundaries of collective human ability. This is not to say that technical skill is a necessary prerequisite of art, but rather that a high degree of skill goes some way in conferring a judgement of high standard upon an artist or artwork.
Creative impulse
From one perspective, art is a generic term for any product of the creative impulse, out of which sprang all other human pursuits — such as science via alchemy, and religion via shamanism. The term 'art' offers no true definition besides those based within the cultural, historical and geographical context in which it is applied. Though to the artists themselves, the impulse to create is undeniable; an artist can no more deny that impulse than he/she could ignore breathing (one might compare Kandinsky's inner necessity to this popular view). It is because of the overbearing need to create, in the face of financial ruin, public obscurity or political opposition, that artists are typically conceived of as unstable, even crazy, or misguided.
Differences in Defining Art
Definitions of art and aesthetic arguments usually proceed from one of several possible perspectives. Art may be defined by the intention of the artist as in the writings of Dewey. Art may be seen as being in the response/emotion of the viewer as Tolstoy claims. In Danto's view, it can be defined as a character of the item itself or as a function of an object's context.
Plato
For Plato, art is a pursuit whose adherents are not to be trusted; given that their productions imitate the sensory world (itself an imitation of the divine world of forms) art necessarily is an imitation of an imitation, and thus is hopelessly far from the source of the truth. Plato, it may be noted, barred artists from access to his ideal city, in his Republic.
Aristotle
Aristotle saw art in less of a bad light; though he shared Plato's poor opinion of it, he nevertheless thought that art might serve a purpose in catharthis. That is, by witnessing the sufferings and celebrations of actors onstage onlookers might viacriously experience these same feelings themselves, and thereby purge such negative feelings.
Institutional definition
Many people's opinions of what art is would fall inside a relatively small range of accepted standards, or "institutional definition of art" (George Dickie 1974). This derives from education and other social factors. Most people did not consider the depiction of a Brillo Box or a store-bought urinal to be art until Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp (respectively) placed them in the context of art (i.e., the art gallery), which then provided the association of these objects with the values that define art. Most viewers of these objects initially rejected such associations, because the objects did not, themselves, meet the accepted criteria. The objects needed to be absorbed into the general consensus of what art is before they achieved the near-universal acceptance as art in the contemporary era. Once accepted and viewed with a fresh eye, the smooth, white surfaces of Duchamp's urinal are strikingly similar to classical marble sculptural forms, whether the artist intended it or not. This type of recontextualizing provides the same spark of connection expected from any traditionally created art. It should be noted, however, that Duchamps act might be as readily interpreted as a demonstration of the (not always beneficial) power of artistic institutions, rather than the universal art potentially inherent in all objects. It should also be noted that the placement of an object in an artistic context is not taken as a universal standard of art, but is a common characteristic of conceptual art, prevalent since the 1960s; notably, the Stuckist art movement criticises this tendency of recent art.
Related Issues

Social criticism
Art is often seen as belonging to one social class and excluding others. In this context, art is seen as a high-status activity associated with wealth, the ability to purchase art, and the leisure required to pursue or enjoy it. The palaces of Versailles or the Hermitage in St. Petersburg with their vast collections of art, amassed by the fabulously wealthy royalty of Europe exemplify this view. Collecting such art is the preserve of the rich. However, there is a (not always deliberate) tradition of artists bringing their vision down to earth, and inhabiting a mundane, even poverty stricken, world. The life of Vincent van Gogh is a classic example of this starving artist tradition, as is that of William Blake. It hardly needs to be mentioned, however, that few find such a state of existence desirable, and (bearing in mind that "poverty" in this sense also connotes a certain lack of public approval or appetite) that one of the near-defining characteristics of artists is a desire to be seen universally, if not always to be understood. Before the 13th century in Europe, artisans were considered to belong to a lower caste, since they were essentially manual labourers. After Europe was re-exposed to classical culture during the Renaissance, particularly in the nation states of what is now Italy (Florence, Siena), artists gained an association with high status. However, arrangements of "fine" and expensive goods have always been used by institutions of power as marks of their own status. This is seen in the 20th and 21st century by the commissioning or purchasing of art by big businesses and corporations as decoration for their offices.
The Issue of Utility
There are many who ascribe to certain arts the quality of being non-utilitarian. This fits within the "art as good" system of definitions and suffers from a class prejudice against labor and utility. Opponents of this view argue that all human activity has some utilitarian function, and these objects claimed to be "non-utilitarian" actually have the rather mundane and banal utility of attempting to mystify and codify unworkable justifications for arbitrary social hierarchy. It might also be argued that non-utilitarian is, in this context, a mis-usage; that art is not in and of itself, useless, but rather that it particularly use does not manifest itself in any traditionally demonstrable way (though advances in neuroscience may arguably enable the isolation of those assocaited cortexes of the brain concerned with the creation or appreciation of art). Art is also used by clinical psychologists as art therapy. The end product is not the principal goal in this case; rather a process of healing, through creative acts, is sought. The resultant piece of artwork may also offer insight into the troubles experienced by the subject and may suggest suitable approaches to be used in more conventional forms of psychiatric therapy. The "use" of art from the artist’s standpoint is as a means of expression. When art is conceived as a device, it serves several context and perspective specific functions. From the artist’s perspective it allows one to symbolize complex ideas and emotions in an arbitrary language subject only to the interpretation of the self and peers. In a social context, it can serve to soothe the soul and promote popular morale. In a more negative aspect of this facet, art is often utlisied as a form of propaganda, and thus can be used to subtly influence popular conceptions or mood (in some cases, artworks are appropriated to be used in this manner, without the creator's initial intention). From a more anthropological perspective, art is a way of passing ideas and concepts on to later generations in a (somewhat) universal language. The interpretation of this language is very dependent upon the observer’s perspective and context, and it might be argued that the very subjectivity of art demonstrates its importance in providing an arena in which rival ideas might be exchanged and discussed, or to provide a social context in which disparate groups of people might congregate and mingle.
History of Art
The term 'art history' typically refers to a historical examination of the various trends of the visual arts through certain periods of human history. It may also be taken to encompass a study of the theories of art, which may or not not include an examination of their historical context. See main article: Art history
Symbols
Much of the development of individual artist deals with finding principles for how to express certain ideas through various kinds of symbolism. For example, Vasily Kandinsky developed his use of color in painting through a system of stimulus response, where over time he gained an understanding of the emotions that can be evoked by color and combinations of color. Contemporary artist Andy Goldsworthy, on the other hand, chose to use the medium of found natural objects and materials to arrange temporary sculptures. See main article: Symbols
See also

- Aesthetics, the philosophy of beauty
- Art criticism
- Art groups
- Art history
- Art sale
- Art school
- Art styles, periods and movements
- Art techniques and materials
- Art theft
- Artist
- Definition of music
- Applied art
- Fine art
- Modern art
- Psychedelic art
- Philosophy of art
- What Is Art?
Further reading

- Peter Magyar, Thought palaces. Amsterdam: Architectura & Natura Press, 1999
- Aristotle, Metaphysics
- Plato, Theory of forms
- Carl Jung, Man and his Symbols
- Gyorgy Doczi, The Power of Limits.
- Benedetto Croce, Aesthetic as Science of Expression and General Linguistic, 1902
External links
Resources
- [http://www.artlex.com ArtLex.com] - Dictionary of art terms
- [http://www.artcyclopedia.com/ Artcyclopedia.com] - Reference site
- [http://www.art-atlas.net Art-Atlas.Net] The International Art Directory
- [http://www.nelepets.com/art The Art Millennium] - Comprehensive Art Encyclopedia
- [http://www.all-art.org History of Art] - The Complete History of Art
- [http://www.theartsdirectory.info Art Directory] Directory of art links Essays
- [http://www.centrebouddhisteparis.org/En_Anglais/FWBO/The_Arts/the_arts.html Art and the spiritual life]
- [http://samvak.tripod.com/artist.html Art as a private language]
- [http://www.cycleback.com/fashiondisasters.html The Impossibleness of Art] by noted art historian David Cycleback
- [http://www.primitivism.com/case-art.htm The Case Against Art] Websites for Artists
- http://www.wetcanvas.com
- http://www.deviantart.com
- http://www.portraitartist.com
- http://www.passionforpaint.com
- http://www.multimediakunst.net
- http://www.artabus.com Category:Arts
- ms:Seni ja:芸術 simple:Art

Western culture

:For this article's equivalent regarding the East, see Eastern culture :For the Henry Cow album of the same name, see Western Culture (album) Western Culture (album), for many a symbol of the changes of the Western culture during the Renaissance ]] Western culture refers to the culture that has developed in the Western world. It comprises the heritage of norms, values, customs and sometimes artifacts that the cultures of the Western world share. A Western culture refers to one of many cultures in the Western world.

Brief description

The Western world is a group of countries and cultures of which the composition depends on the definition used. See Western world for an overview of these definitions. The concept of Western culture is generally linked to the classical definition of Western world. In this definition, Western culture is the set of literary, scientific, musical, philosophical and other traditions from Western Europe and countries whose history is strongly marked by Western European immigration or settlement. Much of this set of traditions is collected in the Western canon. The concept of Western culture is better defined than the concept of Western world. The concept of Western world is linked to countries as well as cultures. The concept of Western culture is linked to people. One could argue about the question if South Africa is a Western or Westernised country. Focussing on people, it is clear that part of the South African population is Western and part is not. An increasing number of countries and societies with a predominant Western culture have one or more significant minorities who practice a non-Western culture, either as native people (e.g. Brazil, parts of Australia or the United States) or by immigration (e.g. the US and most of Western Europe).

Foundations

The origins of Western Culture are often cited as ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, and Catholic and Protestant Christianity, and as such, some describe it as "Judeo-Christian culture." However, its source also lies prominently in the Germanic, Slavic and Celtic popular cultures that took part in the formation of the culture of medieval Europe. Western culture has developed a plethora of literary, musical, philosophical, religious, and other traditions. Important traditions were:
- Scholasticism
- Roman Catholicism
- Protestantism
- Humanism
- Renaissance
- Age of Enlightenment
- Secularisation
- Scientific method

Hegemony

It can be said that elements of western culture have had a very influential role on other cultures worldwide. People of many cultures, both Western and non-Western, equate "modernization" with "westernization," but many non-westerners object to the implication that all societies should adopt western ideas and values. Some members of more radical-thinking communities in the non-Western world have suggested that this potential link is a reason why much of "modernity" should be rejected as intrinsically Western and thus incompatible with their vision of their societies. What is generally uncontested, is that much of the technology and social patterns which make up what is typically defined as "modernization" (e.g. steam engines, internal combustion engines, the scientific method, and others) were developed in the Western world. Whether these technological and social forms are instrinsically part of Western culture, is more difficult to answer. Many would argue that the question cannot be answered by a response from positivistic science and instead is a "value" question which must be answered from a value system (e.g. philosophy, religion, political doctrine). Nonetheless, much of anthropology today has shown the close links between the physical environment and daily activities and the formation of a culture (the findings of cultural ecology, among others). Therefore, the impact of "modernization" and "modern" technology may not merely be "scientific" (that is, physical) but may possibly be closely linked with a certain culture, that of the West, such that without such technology, Western culture today would have been dramatically different from how it is known in actual historical and contemporary times.

"Western Civ" as a curriculum

- "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho! Western Civ has got to go!" The chant of Stanford University students c. 1990's demonstrating against the canon of classic texts required in the basic humanities course because it was dominated by "dead white males" and was "Eurocentric".
- "I think it would be a good idea" - opinion of "Western Civilisation", quotation popularly attributed to Mahatma Gandhi.

Educational perennialism

Perennialists believe that one should teach the things that they believe are of everlasting importance to all people everywhere. They believe that the most important topics develop a person. Since details of fact change constantly, these cannot be the most important. Therefore, one should teach principles, not facts. Since people are human, one should teach first about humans, not machines or techniques. Since people are people first, and workers second if at all, one should teach liberal topics first, not vocational topics. A particular strategy with modern perennialists is to teach scientific reasoning, not facts. They may illustrate the reasoning with original accounts of famous experiments. This gives the students a human side to the science, and shows the reasoning in action. Most importantly, it shows the uncertainty and false steps of real science. Although perennialism may seem similar to essentialism, perennialism focuses first on personal development, while essentialism focuses first on essential skills. Essentialist curricula thus tend to be much more vocational and fact-based, and far less liberal and principle-based. Perennialism has two major divisions: secular and religious, and their goals and methods differ somewhat.

Secular perennialism

Secular perennialism is a relatively new philosophy dating from only the mid-19th century. It has been supported by Mortimer Adler and Robert Hutchins. Secular perennialists emphasize the importance of learning to reason. They argue that accurate, independent reasoning is the greatest difference between a developed mind and an undeveloped mind. Thus, it should be a major goal of education. They advocate teaching reasoning by means of a directed reading list of [http://thecommonreview.org/gbf/ great books] of the Western canon, supplemented with minimally-directed discussions using the socratic method. The great books normally include those that originally advocated the major ideas of western civilization. In this doctrine, a skilled teacher would keep discussions on topic, without classical reasoning errors, but the class, not the teacher, would come to a conclusion. In particular, the teacher would not direct or lead the class to a conclusion. The teacher's role may include accurately formulating the problem pointed out by some great book's reading. Secular perennialists also advocate the use of original works, perhaps translated, rather than textbooks. Their basic argument is that the original work is the work of genius. Since we need not settle for less, why should we? The standard argument for a modern text is to make the information relevant to modern society. Perennialists argue that the topics of the great books describe any society, at any time, and thus the great books already suit our society and our time. They freely acknowledge that any selection of [http://thecommonreview.org/gbf/ great books] will disagree about many topics, but see this as an advantage. They believe that the student must learn to recognize such disagreements, which often reflect real disagreements between persons. Then, hardest of all, the student must actually think about the disagreements and reach a reasoned, defensible conclusion. This is a major goal of the socratic discussions. They do not advocate teaching a settled scholarly interpretation of the great books, because this cheats the student of an opportunity to learn rational criticism and to know his own mind. Also, possibly it cheats humanity of brilliant insights brought by new minds.

Religious perennialism

Religious perennialism is the original form, developed first by Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century in his work [http://www.atheneum.org/demagis.html De Magistro], (The Teacher). It is also focused on the personal development of the student, because Christian philosophy is concerned with love (not sex, but a perfected ideal of love). Aquinas was a Christian philosopher and theologian. He argued that God loves us, and therefore wants us to be all we can be. In particular, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (Matthew 5:48), and "Love the Lord...with all your mind..." (Luke 10:27). Thus human development glorifies God, and is a worthy project. He argued against two fallacies. First he argued that all learning could not come from within, because it always had to be provided as sensed signs that the student must perceive. He also argued that education is not mere manipulation of a mind from outside, but that rather some essential spark (from God) remade the knowledge in the student's mind. He advocated a middle path, between these two extremes (in line with Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics). That is, the teacher could guide the student to the great truths. This would save the student much trial and error, and permit greater development at a younger age. Aquinas clearly considered Christian ethics, salvation and doctrine to be items of first importance, because they concerned human access to the universal God and eternal life. He considered reasoning and philosophy to be important, but of clearly secondary importance. An interesting teaching was that he considered God to be the great, perhaps only Teacher, because only God could form ideas directly in men's minds from mere senses. For a discussion of other educational philosophies, see educational philosophies and education reform. For more information about the great books, see Mortimer Adler or http://thecommonreview.org/gbf/

Colleges exemplifying this philosophy

Some colleges in the United States use "a Great Books curriculum" and represent a fairly pure application of this educational philosophy:
- St. John's College, U. S. is a well-known secular liberal-arts college with an undergraduate program described as "an all-required course of study based on the great books of the Western tradition."
- [http://www.thomasaquinas.edu Thomas Aquinas College] in Santa Paula, California is a Catholic Christian college with a Great Books curriculum.
- [http://mckenziestudycenter.org/guten/ Gutenberg College] in Eugene, Oregon provides "a broad-based liberal arts education in a Protestant Christian environment", with a "great books" curriculum emphasizing "the development of basic learning skills (reading, writing, mathematics, and critical thinking) and the application of these skills to profound writings of the past"
- Shimer College in Waukegan, Illinois grants a Bachelor of Arts to students who complete a program composed of humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, integrative studies and a capstone senior thesis.
- [http://www.biola.edu/academics/torrey The Torrey Honors Institute] at Biola University is a Christian Great Books program. Category:Educational philosophy

Harvard Classics

The Harvard Classics, originally known as Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf, was a fifty-volume anthology of works selected by Charles W. Eliot. It was originally published in 1909. Dr. Eliot, then President of Harvard University, had stated in speeches that the elements of a liberal education could be obtained by spending fifteen minutes a day reading from a collection of books that could fit on a five-foot shelf. (Originally he had said a three-foot shelf). The publisher P. F. Collier and Son saw an opportunity, and challenged him to make good on this statement by selecting an appropriate collection of works; the Harvard Classics was the result.

Publication

The collection was widely advertised by Collier and Son, in Collier's Magazine and elsewhere, with great success. As Adam Kirsch, writing in 2001 Harvard Magazine, notes, "It is surprisingly easy, even today, to find a complete set of the Harvard Classics in good condition. At least one is usually for sale on eBay, the Internet auction site, for $300 or so, a bargain at $6 a book. The supply, from attics or private libraries around the country, seems endless—a tribute to the success of the publisher, P.F. Collier, who sold some 350,000 sets within 20 years of the series' initial publication." Malcolm X read the entire set when he was in prison. Collier's was a major publisher of sets in the early 1900s and throughout the century issued many multi-volume sets of authors as diverse as Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, John Steinbeck, P. G. Wodehouse and Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes. The concept of education through systematic reading of seminal works themselves (rather than textbooks), was carried on by John Erskine at Columbia University, and, in the 1930s, Mortimer Adler and Robert Hutchins at the University of Chicago, carried this idea further with the concepts of education through study of the "great books" and "great ideas" of Western civilization. This led to the publication of Great Books of the Western World, which is still in print and actively marketed. In 1937, under Stringfellow Barr, St. John's College introduced a curriculum based on the direct study of "great books." The Harvard Classics set is popular today with those interested in home schooling.

The Harvard Classics

NEW YORK: P.F. COLLIER & SON, 1909–1917 #His Autobiography, by Benjamin Franklin; Journal, by John Woolman; Fruits of Solitude, by William Penn #The Apology, Phædo and Crito of Plato; The Golden Sayings of Epictetus; The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius #Essays, Civil and Moral & The New Atlantis, by Francis Bacon; Areopagitica & Tractate on Education, by John Milton; Religio Medici, by Sir Thomas Browne #Complete Poems Written in English, by John Milton #Essays and English Traits, by Ralph Waldo Emerson #Poems and Songs, by Robert Burns #The Confessions of Saint Augustine; The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas á Kempis #Agamemnon, The Libation-Bearers, The Furies & Prometheus Bound of Aeschylus; Oedipus the King & Antigone of Sophocles; Hippolytus & The Bacchæ; of Euripides; The Frogs of Aristophanes #On Friendship, On Old Age & Letters, by Cicero; Letters, by Pliny the Younger #Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith #The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin #Lives, by Plutarch #Æneid, by Virgil #Don Quixote, Part 1, by Cervantes #The Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan; The Lives of Donne and Herbert, by Izaak Walton #Stories from the Thousand and One Nights #Fables, by Æsop; Household Tales, by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm; Tales, by Hans Christian Andersen #All for Love, by John Dryden; The School for Scandal, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan; She Stoops to Conquer, by Oliver Goldsmith; The Cenci, by Percy Bysshe Shelley; A Blot in the 'Scutcheon, by Robert Browning; Manfred, by Lord Byron #Faust, Part I, Egmont & Hermann and Dorothea, by J.W. von Goethe; Dr. Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe #The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri #I Promessi Sposi, by Alessandro Manzoni #The Odyssey of Homer #Two Years Before the Mast, by Richard Henry Dana, Jr.. #On Taste, On the Sublime and Beautiful, Reflections on the French Revolution & A Letter to a Noble Lord, by Edmund Burke #Autobiography & On Liberty, by John Stuart Mill; Characteristics, Inaugural Address at Edinburgh & Sir Walter Scott, by Thomas Carlyle #Life Is a Dream, by Pedro Calderón de la Barca; Polyeucte, by Pierre Corneille; Phædra, by Jean Racine; Tartuffe, by Molière; Minna von Barnhelm, by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing; Wilhelm Tell, by Friedrich von Schiller #English Essays: Sidney to Macaulay #Essays: English and American #The Voyage of the Beagle, by Charles Darwin #Scientific Papers #The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini #Literary and Philosophical Essays #Voyages and Travels: Ancient and Modern #Discourse on Method, by René Descartes; Letters on the English, by Voltaire; On the Inequality among Mankind & Profession of Faith of a Savoyard Vicar, by Jean Jacques Rousseau; Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes #The Chronicles of Jean Froissart; The Holy Grail, by Sir Thomas Malory; A Description of Elizabethan England, by William Harrison #The Prince, by Niccolò Machiavelli; The Life of Sir Thomas More, by William Roper; Utopia, by Sir Thomas More; The Ninety-Five Theses, Address to the Christian Nobility & Concerning Christian Liberty, by Martin Luther #Some Thoughts Concerning Education, by John Locke; Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous in Opposition to Sceptics and Atheists, by George Berkeley; An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, by David Hume #The Oath of Hippocrates; Journeys in Diverse Places, by Ambroise Paré; On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals, by William Harvey; The Three Original Publications on Vaccination Against Smallpox, by Edward Jenner; The Contagiousness of Puerperal Fever, by Oliver Wendell Holmes; On the Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery, by Joseph Lister; Scientific Papers, by Louis Pasteur; Scientific Papers, by Charles Lyell #Prefaces and Prologues #English Poetry I: Chaucer to Gray #English Poetry II: Collins to Fitzgerald #English Poetry III: Tennyson to Whitman #American Historical Documents: 1000–1904 #Confucian: The Sayings of Confucius; Hebrew: Job, Psalms & Ecclesiastes; Christian I: Luke & Acts #Christian II: Corinthians I & II & Hymns; Buddhist: Writings; Hindu: The Bhagavad-Gita; Mohammedan: Chapters from the Koran [sic] #Edward the Second, by Christopher Marlowe; Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth & The Tempest, by William Shakespeare #The Shoemaker's Holiday, by Thomas Dekker; The Alchemist, by Ben Jonson; Philaster, by Beaumont and Fletcher; The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster; A New Way to Pay Old Debts, by Philip Massinger #Thoughts, Letters & Minor Works, by Blaise Pascal #Epic & Saga: Beowulf, The Song of Roland, The Destruction of Dá Derga’s Hostel & The Story of the Volsungs and Niblungs #Index #Lectures on the Harvard Classics

The Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction

The Harvard classics shelf of fiction, is selected by Charles W. Eliot, LLD (1834-1926), with notes and introductions by William Allan Neilson. It also features an index to Criticisms and Interpretations. :1 & 2 The History of Tom Jones, by Henry Fielding
:3 A Sentimental Journey, by Laurence Sterne; Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
:4 Guy Mannering, by Sir Walter Scott
:5 & 6 Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray
:7 & 8 David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens
:9 The Mill on the Floss, by George Eliot
:10 The Scarlet Letter & Rappaccini's Daughter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne; Rip Van Winkle & The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving; Three Short Stories, by Edgar Allan Poe; Three Short Stories, by Francis Bret Harte; Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog, by Samuel L. Clemens; The Man Without a Country, by Edward Everett Hale
:11 The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James
:12 Notre Dame de Paris, by Victor Marie Hugo
:13 Old Goriot, by Honoré de Balzac; The Devil's Pool, by George Sand; The Story of a White Blackbird, by Alfred de Musset; Five Short Stories, by Alphonse Daudet; Two Short Stories, by Guy de Maupassant
:14 & 15 Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship & The Sorrows of Werther, by J. W. von Goethe; The Banner of the Upright Seven, by Gottfried Keller; The Rider on the White Horse, by Theodor Storm; Trials and Tribulations, by Theodor Fontane
:16 & 17 Anna Karenin & Ivan the Fool, by Leo Tolstoy
:18 Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
:19 A House of Gentlefolk & Fathers and Children, by Ivan Turgenev
:20 Pepita Jimenez, by Juan Valera; A Happy Boy, by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson; Skipper Worse, by Alexander L. Kielland

Quote

The Five-Foot Shelf, with its introductions, notes, guides to reading, and exhaustive indexes, may claim to constitute a reading course unparalleled in comprehensiveness and authority. --from Notes on the Lectures William Allan Neilson

Great Books of the Western World

__NOTOC__ The Great Books of the Western World (ISBN 0852295316) is a series of books originally published in the United States in 1952 by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. in an attempt to present the western canon in a single package of 54 volumes.

History

The project got its start at the University of Chicago. University president Robert Hutchins collaborated with Mortimer Adler to develop a course, generally aimed at businessmen, for the purpose of filling in gaps in education, making one more well-rounded and familiar with the "Great Books" and ideas of the past three millennia. Among the original students was William Benton, future US Senator and then CEO of the Encyclopædia Britannica. It was he who proposed a series of books presenting the greatest works of the canon, complete and unabridged, to be edited by Hutchins and Adler and published by Encyclopædia Britannica. Hutchins was wary, fearing that the works would be sold and treated as encyclopedias, cheapening the great books they were. Nevertheless, he was persuaded to agree to the project and pay $60,000 for it. After several debates about what was to be included and how the work was to be presented, and the budget exploding to $2,000,000, the project was ready for publication. It was presented at a gala at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City on April 15, 1952. In a speech made that night, Hutchins said "This is more than a set of books, and more than a liberal education. Great Books of the Western World is an act of piety. Here are the sources of our being. Here is our heritage. This is the west. This is its meaning for mankind." It was decided that the first two volumes would be presented to Queen Elizabeth and President Truman. Sales were initially poor. After 1,863 were sold in 1952, less than one-tenth that number were sold the following year. A financial debacle loomed, until Encyclopædia Britannica altered the marketing strategy and sold the set (as Hutchins had feared) through experienced door-to-door encyclopedia salesmen. Through this method 50,000 sets were sold in 1961. In 1963 the editors published Gateway to the Great Books, a ten-volume set of readings designed as an introduction to the authors and themes in the Great Books series. Each year from 1961 to 1998 the editors published The Great Ideas Today, an annual update on the applicability of the Great Books to current issues.

The works

Published in 54 volumes, The Great Books of the Western World covers topics including fiction, history, poetry, natural science, mathematics, philosophy, drama, politics, religion, economics, and ethics. The first volume, titled The Great Conversation, contains an introduction and discourse on liberal education by Hutchins. The next two volumes, "The Great Ideas: A Syntopicon", were conceived by Adler as a way of emphasizing the unity of the set and, by extension, of Western thought in general. A team of indexers spent months compiling references in all the works to such topics as "Man's freedom in relation to the will of God" and "The denial of void or vacuum in favor of a plenum". They were grouped into 102 chapters, for which Adler wrote 102 introductions. The volumes contained the following works:

Volume 4

- Homer
- The Iliad
- The Odyssey

Volume 5

- Aeschylus
- Complete Plays
- Sophocles
- Complete Plays
- Euripides
- Complete Plays
- Aristophanes
- Complete Plays

Volume 6

- Herodotus
- The History
- Thucydides
- The History of the Peloponnesian War

Volume 7

- Plato
- Dialogues
- Seventh Letter

Volume 8

- Aristotle
- Works, Part 1

Volume 9

- Aristotle
- Works, Part 2

Volume 10

- Hippocrates
- Works
- Galen
- On the Natural Faculties

Volume 11

- Euclid
- The Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements
- Archimedes
- On the Sphere and Cylinder
- Measurement of a Circle
- On Conoids and Pheroids
- On Spirals
- On the Equilibrium of Planes
- The Sand-Reckoner
- Quadrature of the Parabola
- On Floating Bodies
- Book of Lemmas
- The Method Treating of Mechanical Problems
- Apollonius of Perga
- On Conic Sections
- Nicomachus of Gerasa
- Introduction to Arithmetic

Volume 12

- Lucretius
- On the Nature of Things
- Epictetus
- The Discourses
- Marcus Aurelius
- The Meditations

Volume 13

- Virgil
- The Eclogues
- The Georgics
- The Aeneid

Volume 14

- Plutarch
- The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans

Volume 15

- P. Cornelius Tacitus
- The Annals
- The Histories

Volume 16

- Ptolemy
- The Almagest
- Nicolaus Copernicus
- On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres
- Johannes Kepler
- Epitome of Copernican Astronomy (Books IV - V)
- The Harmonies of the World (Book V)

Volume 17

- Plotinus
- The Six Enneads

Volume 18

- Augustine of Hippo
- The Confessions
- The City of God
- On Christian Doctrine

Volume 19

- Thomas Aquinas
- Summa Theologiae (Part 1)

Volume 20

- Thomas Aquinas
- Summa Theologiae (Part 2)

Volume 21

- Dante Alighieri
- The Divine Comedy

Volume 22

- Geoffrey Chaucer
- Troilus and Cressida
- The Canterbury Tales

Volume 23

- Niccolò Machiavelli
- The Prince
- Thomas Hobbes
- Leviathan

Volume 24

- Francois Rabelais
- Gargantua and Pantagruel

Volume 25

- Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
- Essays

Volume 26

- William Shakespeare
- Complete Plays (Part 1)

Volume 27

- William Shakespeare
- Complete Plays (Part 2)
- Sonnets

Volume 28

- William Gilbert
- On the Loadstone and Magnetic Bodies
- Galileo Galilei
- Dialogues Concerning the Two New Sciences
- William Harvey
- On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals
- On the Circulation of Blood
- On the Generation of Animals

Volume 29

- Miguel de Cervantes
- The History of Don Quixote de la Mancha

Volume 30

- Sir Francis Bacon
- Advancement of Learning
- Novum Organum
- New Atlantis

Volume 31

- René Descartes
- Rules for the Direction of the Mind
- Discourse on the Method
- Meditations on First Philosophy
- Objections Against the Meditations and Replies
- The Geometry
- Benedict de Spinoza
- Ethics

Volume 32

- John Milton
- English Minor Poems
- Paradise Lost
- Samson Agonistes
- Areopagitica

Volume 33

- Blaise Pascal
- The Provincial Letters
- Pensées
- Scientific and mathematical essays

Volume 34

- Sir Isaac Newton
- Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
- Optics
- Christian Huygens
- Treatise on Light

Volume 35

- John Locke
- A Letter Concerning Toleration
- Concerning Civil Government Second Essay
- An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
- George Berkeley
- The Principles of Human Knowledge
- David Hume
- An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

Volume 36

- Jonathan Swift
- Gulliver's Travels
- Laurence Sterne
- The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Volume 37

- Henry Fielding
- The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

Volume 38

- Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu
- The Spirit of the Laws
- Jean Jacques Rousseau
- A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
- A Discourse on Political Economy
- The Social Contract

Volume 39

- Adam Smith
- An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

Volume 40

- Edward Gibbon
- The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Part 1)

Volume 41

- Edward Gibbon
- The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Part 2)

Volume 42

- Immanuel Kant
- The Critique of Pure Reason
- Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals
- The Critique of Practical Reason
- Preface and Introduction to the Metaphysical Elements of Ethics with a note on Conscience
- General Introduction to the Metaphysic of Morals
- The Science of Right
- The Critique of Judgement

Volume 43

- American State Papers
- Declaration of Independence
- Articles of Confederation
- The Constitution of the United States of America
- Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay
- The Federalist
- John Stuart Mill
- On Liberty
- Representative Government
- Utilitarianism

Volume 44

- James Boswell
- The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.

Volume 45

- Antoine Laurent Lavoisier
- Elements of Chemistry
- Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier
- Analytical Theory of Heat
- Michael Faraday
- Experimental Researches in Electricity

Volume 46

- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
- The Philosophy of Right
- The Philosophy of History

Volume 47

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Faust

Volume 48

- Herman Melville
- Moby Dick; or, The Whale

Volume 49

- Charles Darwin
- The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
- The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex

Volume 50

- Karl Marx
- Capital
- Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
- Manifesto of the Communist Party

Volume 51

- Count Leo Tolstoy
- War and Peace

Volume 52

- Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky
- The Brothers Karamazov

Volume 53

- William James
- The Principles of Psychology

Volume 54

- Sigmund Freud
- The Origin and Development of Psycho-Analysis
- Selected Papers on Hysteria
- The Sexual Enlightenment of Children
- The Future Prospects of Psycho-Analytic Therapy
- Observations on "Wild" Psycho-Analysis
- The Interpretation of Dreams
- On Narcissism
- Instincts and Their Vicissitudes
- Repression
- The Unconscious
- A General Introduction to Psycho-Analysis
- Beyond the Pleasure Principle
- Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego
- The Ego and the Id
- Inhibitions, Symptoms, and Anxiety
- Thoughts for the Times on War and Death
- Civilization and Its Discontents
- New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis

Second edition

In 1990 a second edition of the Great Books of the Western World was published, this time with updated translations and six more volumes of material covering the 20th century, an era of which the first edition was nearly devoid. A number of pre-20th century books were also added, and four were dropped from the set: Apollonius' On Conic Sections, Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy, Henry Fielding's Tom Jones, and Joseph Fourier's Analytical Theory of Heat. Adler later [http://books.mirror.org/gb.sel1990.html expressed regret] about dropping On Conic Sections and Tom Jones. Adler also voiced disagreement with the addition of Voltaire's Candide to the set, and said that the Syntopicon should have been expanded to include references to the Qu'ran. He addressed criticisms that the set was too heavily Western European and did not adequately represent women and minority authors. The pre-20th century books added (volume numbering is not strictly compatible with the first edition due to rearrangement of some books - see the complete table of contents for the second edition [http://www.interleaves.org/%7Erteeter/gbww.html here]):

Volume 20

- John Calvin
- Institutes of the Christian Religion

Volume 23

- Erasmus
- The Praise of Folly

Volume 31

- Moliere
- The School for Wives
- The Critique of the School for Wives
- Tartuffe
- Don Juan
- The Miser
- The Would-Be Gentleman
- The Would-Be Invalid
- Pierre Corneille
- Bérénice

Volume 34

- Voltaire
- Candide
- Denis Diderot
- Rameau's Nephew

Volume 43

- Søren Kierkegaard
- Fear and Trembling
- Friedrich Nietzsche
- Beyond Good and Evil

Volume 44

- Alexis de Toqueville
- Democracy in America

Volume 45

- Honore de Balzac
- Cousin Bette

Volume 46

- Jane Austen
- Emma
- George Eliot
- Middlemarch

Volume 47

- Charles Dickens
- Little Dorrit

Volume 48

- Mark Twain
- Huckleberry Finn

Volume 52

- Henrik Ibsen
- A Doll's House
- The Wild Duck
- Hedda Gabler
- The Master Builder The six volumes of 20th century material consisted of the following:

Volume 55

- William James
- Pragmatism
- Henri Bergson
- An Introduction to Metaphysics
- John Dewey
- Experience in Education
- Alfred North Whitehead
- Science and the Modern World
- Bertrand Russell
- The Problems of Philosophy
- Martin Heidegger
- What is Metaphysics?
- Ludwig Wittgenstein
- Philosophical Investigations
- Karl Barth
- The Word of God and the Word of Man

Volume 56

- Henri Poincaré
- Science and Hypothesis
- Max Planck
- Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers
- Alfred North Whitehead
- An Introduction to Mathematics
- Albert Einstein
- Relativity: The Special and the General Theory
- Arthur Eddington
- The Expanding Universe
- Niels Bohr
- Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature (selections)
- Discussion with Einstein on Epistemology
- G.H. Hardy
- A Mathematician's Apology
- Werner Heisenberg
- Physics and Philosophy
- Erwin Schrödinger
- What is Life?
- Theodosius Dobzhansky
- Genetics and the Origin of Species
- C.H. Waddington
- The Nature of Life

Volume 57

- Thorstein Veblen
- The Theory of the Leisure Class
- R.H. Tawney
- The Acquisitive Society
- John Maynard Keynes
- The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money

Volume 58

- Sir James George Frazer

Western canon

Origins

Debate

Works

See also

External links

Canon (collection)

Art

Etymology

Currently recognized forms of art

Defining art

General characteristics of art

Skill

Judgments of value

Communicating emotion

Creative impulse

Differences in Defining Art

Plato

Aristotle

Institutional definition

Related Issues

Social criticism

The Issue of Utility

History of Art

Symbols

See also

Further reading

External links

Western culture

Brief description

Foundations

Hegemony

"Western Civ" as a curriculum

See also

Educational perennialism

Secular perennialism

Religious perennialism

Colleges exemplifying this philosophy

Harvard Classics

Publication

Contents

The Harvard Classics

The Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction

Quote

Further reading and external links

Great Books of the Western World

History

The works

Volume 1

Volume 2

Volume 3

Volume 4

Volume 5

Volume 6

Volume 7

Volume 8

Volume 9

Volume 10

Volume 11

Volume 12

Volume 13

Volume 14

Volume 15

Volume 16

Volume 17

Volume 18

Volume 19

Volume 20

Volume 21

Volume 22

Volume 23

Volume 24

Volume 25

Volume 26

Volume 27

Volume 28

Volume 29

Volume 30

Volume 31

Volume 32