NOTICE: (Updated March 5, 2010)

Beginning December 19, 2009, Books 'N Border Collies will be posting but only intermittently while I pursue personal goals. I plan to share some reading I'm doing, but there will be no reviews. I will, however, be sharing my exploration of vegetarian cooking and the cookbooks and websites I use to educate myself. I hope you enjoy it!

Lezlie



Thursday, January 8, 2009

The 103 Great Ideas


My regular readers know I have been reading How to Think About the Great Ideas: From the Great Books of Western Civilization. The book has sparked a desire to explore these Ideas in my own personal reading, not just in relation to The Great Books, and in my own manner. To that end I have decided to keep a the list on my blog for easy access in the future. If you would like to explore the Great Ideas further on your own, check out Center for the Study of the Great Ideas.


THE 103 GREAT IDEAS

ANGEL
ANIMAL
ARISTOCRACY
ART
ASTRONOMY AND COSMOLOGY
BEAUTY
BEING
CAUSE
CHANCE
CHANGE
CITIZEN
CONSTITUTION
COURAGE
CUSTOM AND CONVENTION
DEFINITION
DEMOCRACY
DESIRE
DIALECTIC
DUTY
EDUCATION
ELEMENT
EMOTION
EQUALITY
ETERNITY
EVOLUTION
EXPERIENCE
FAMILY
FATE
FORM
GOD
GOOD AND EVIL
GOVERNMENT
HABIT
HAPPINESS
HISTORY
HONOR
HYPOTHESIS
IDEA
IMMORTALITY
INDUCTION
INFINITY
JUDGMENT
JUSTICE
KNOWLEDGE
LABOR
LANGUAGE
LAW
LIBERTY
LIFE AND DEATH
LOGIC
LOVE
MAN
MATHEMATICS
MATTER
MECHANICS
MEDICINE
MEMORY AND IMAGINATION
METAPHYSICS
MIND
MONARCHY
NATURE
NECESSITY AND CONTINGENCY
OLIGARCHY
ONE AND MANY
OPINION
OPPOSITION
PHILOSOPHY
PHYSICS
PLEASURE AND PAIN
POETRY
PRINCIPLE
PROGRESS
PROPHECY
PRUDENCE
PUNISHMENT
QUALITY
QUANTITY
REASONING
RELATION
RELIGION
REVOLUTION
RHETORIC
SAME AND OTHER
SCIENCE
SENSE
SIGN AND SYMBOL
SIN
SLAVERY
SOUL
SPACE
STATE
TEMPERANCE
THEOLOGY
TIME
TRUTH
TYRANNY AND DESPOTISM
UNIVERSAL AND PARTICULAR
VIRTUE AND VICE
WAR AND PEACE
WEALTH
WILL
WISDOM
WORLD


That should keep me busy for a while. :-)



10 comments:

Andi said...

Wow, that's a really thought provoking list just briefly looking through it. Busy for a while indeed!

Lezlie said...

Andi ~ When I think of them in connections with pretty much any reading I've been doing, it makes my head spin! I do want to read more seriously this year, though.

Lezlie

Anonymous said...

This reminds me of a magazine clipping from who-knows-where that I had cut out when I was in HS and carried around for years - it was a list of books that some really prestigious school recommended all freshman would have read before attending the university (which I don't remember either) but it was daunting. I was going to give myself the rest of my life to read them instead of my first 18! I wonder if it was the Great Books - sound possible?

Lezlie said...

BkClubCare ~ Very possible, I think. There also are a couple of universities which base their entire curriculum on The Great Books. I should put a link to them on one of these posts.

Lezlie

Brenda @ Its A Beautiful Life said...

What a great way to find new things to read! Good for you. Enjoy! I might have joined you, except I don't want to overextend my ability to complete the challenges I already signed up for!

Happy Reading, and thanks for coming my way with your good wishes!

Lezlie said...

Brenda ~ Thanks! And you're welcome! The challenges are fun aren't they? Reading The Great Books is currently a fantasy, but a goal to pick at for a lifetime of learning. :-)

Lezlie

Gilion at Rose City Reader said...

Reading the Great Books is definitely one of my reading fantasies. I took a Great Books course my first year of college (a year long, double course) and it was hands down my best acedemic experience.

Now I have the original edition of the Great Books set (slightly different selections and stuffier translations) that I picked up at a library book sale. But I haven't gotten past the Great Idea list in the front yet.

I plan to read them all, someday, although I think I'll give myself credit for some of the ones I read in college (History of the Peloponnesian Wars jumps to mind) and I may have to gloss over the math books. But, someday.

Lezlie said...

Rose City Reader ~ Definitely give yourself credit for Thucydides. I haven't read that yet, but I did read Herodotus and enjoyed it quite a bit. Not sure if I'd do a complete reread though.

I'm jealous of your Great Books set! That is a list that would take time to get through. I'd need some fluff to break it up! I'm with you though. Someday!

Lezlie

alwanderer said...

Thank U lezlie for the list.I just wanted to save typing but may have to come back time to time :P A poor boy here , I've bought the series book by book from used book stores over the years. Now that I'm retired I have the time I always wished. I am using the great ideas as a back drop template for my reading and writing.

Lezlie said...

Alwanderer ~ That's great! Feel free to use the list here anytime. I'm hoping to have time someday to get bad to all these wonderful plans I had at the time. :-)

Best of luck to you!
Lezlie