Sophia: The Great Books
Fall 2024
Promise
No course does more to make you think harder about the future you should want.
Description
How do you live a virtuous life? What is a just society? There are no more important questions than these. This free 11 week course leads students to grapple with these issues, to examine the answers from the greatest creators in history and to think for themselves about how to live their lives.
Although philosophy, both moral and political, is at the heart of a liberal arts education, we believe that literature and art matter just as much.
Prerequisites: You must have a computer and working camera. You must use generative AI tools. This may require some minor subscription costs. However, we will do our best to use tools which are free to use.
Logistics: Class meets over Zoom from 8:00 to 9:00 PM ET on Mondays and Thursdays.
Staff
Preceptor David Kane. Please address me as “Preceptor,” not “David,” nor “Instructor Kane,” nor “Brah,” nor “Professor Kane,” nor “Mr. Kane,” nor, worst of all, “Dr. Kane.” I respond to e-mail within 24 hours. If I don’t, e-mail me again.
Course Philosophy
No Lectures: The worst method for transmitting information from my head to yours is for me to lecture you. There are no lectures. We talk during class. You learn soccer with the ball at your feet. You learn wisdom by discussion and debate.
Cold Calling: I call on students during class. This keeps every student involved, makes for a more lively discussion and helps to prepare students for the real world, in which you can’t hide in the back row. Over the course of the semester, every student in the class will participate equally in class discussion.
Engagement: I require you to be engaged with the outside world. Our project presentations are public, and you must invite family and friends to attend.
Millism: We follow John Stuart Mills’ advice: “He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side; if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion.”
Material
Readings
All these readings are in the public domain, meaning that there are free copies available. I have included a link to Project Gutenberg for each reading. However, some of those files are not nicely formatted, so I also provide alternative suggestions, usually Kindle versions which are less than $1.
Baghavad Gita by Vyasa (Gutenberg), 1st millenium BC. The translation in the free download is fine, but I prefer the version by Stephen Mitchell.
Dhammapada (Gutenberg), 3rd century BC.
The Republic by Plato (Gutenberg). I like this free Amazon Kindle version.
Great Learning by Zengzi (Gutenberg), 5th century BC. The free download for the Great Learning and the Analects can be tough to work with. I recommend the Pantianos Classics version, available for 99 cents for Kindle. But any translation you want to use is fine.
Tao Te Ching (Gutenberg), 4th century BC.
Daily Work
The best way to get good at generative AI is to practice. Using whichever program you prefer, you must post one image on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday — i.e., the weekdays on which we do not meet — which uses the week’s reading for material. The image can be serious or funny, photo-realistic or anime. Give your creativity free reign!
The best class discussions focus on the texts themselves. On Monday and Thursday, at least 3 hours before class, you must post three short quotations from the week’s readings. Use any criteria: something you like, or a quote you think is important, or one you don’t understand. I will probably select some of the submissions to discuss in class.
Great Works
Poetry, art, architecture and music are just as important as prose when considering the Good Life. Each month, we will focus on one poem, one work of art, one piece of architecture, and one musical composition. We memorize the poetry, listen to the music, marvel at the architecture, and study the art.
September
- If by Rudyard Kipling, 1895.
- David by Michelangelo, 1504.
- The Great Pyramid of Giza, 2500 BC.
- Symphony No. 5 by Ludwig van Beethoven, 1808.
October
- The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, 1915.
- Dance at Bougival by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1883.
- Taj Mahal, 1643.
- Ride of the Valkyries by Richard Wagner, 1851.
November
- Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1818.
- The School of Athens by Raphael, 1511.
- St. Peter’s Basilica, 1626.
- Pachelbel’s Canon by Johann Pachelbel, 1700.
Course Policies
Workload: The course should take about 8 hours per week, outside of the final project. This is an expected average across the class as a whole. It is not a maximum. Some students will end up spending much less time. Others will spend much more.
Discord: All general questions — those not of a personal nature — should be posted to Discord so that all students can benefit from both the question and the answer(s). Please post your question in a sensible channel.
Working with Others: Students are free (and encouraged) to discuss their projects with one another. However, you must hand in your own unique work in all cases. Any copy/paste of another person’s work is plagiarism.
Readings: Assignments in a given week cover (approximately) the material that we will use that week. I will not hesitate to cold-call students with questions about the readings. Do them. Note that the entire week’s readings must be done before class on Monday.
AI: You will need to use ChatGPT, Bard, Midjourney, Stability AI and/or other AI tools. We are preparing you for the real world, where use of AI will soon be ubiquitous.
Schedule
Week 1: September 9
Iliad: 1-8
Week 2: September 16
Iliad: 9-24
Week 3: September 23
Meno
Baghavad Gita
Week 4: September 30
Dhammapada
Phaedo
Week 5: October 7
Republic: Book I
The Great Learning
Analects: Books 1-4
Week 6: October 14
Republic:
Book II:
Sections 357a–376c: Introduction to the question of justice and the construction of the ideal city.
First two sentences: “Socrates: Then the first question, as I was just saying, is whether the just or unjust life is more profitable. And now that we have seen what they are like, let us proceed to inquire which of the two is more advantageous.”
Last two sentences: “Then this, I said, will be our first step—to establish a regular, self-supporting community. True, he replied.”
Sections 376d–392c: The “myth of the metals” and discussion of the Guardian class.
First two sentences: “Certainly, he said. And what shall their education be? Can we find a better than the traditional sort?”
Last two sentences: “Do you agree with me, or not? Yes, he said, I quite agree.”
Book III:
Sections 401d–412b: Key passages on education, the arts, and physical training of the Guardians.
First two sentences: “Certainly. And music, too, as providing the two kinds of rhythm and harmony, is not to be disregarded; but of the two kinds of harmony, I should prefer to speak only of the one which may be called the true and divine harmony.”
Last two sentences: “It seems so, he said. Then as I was saying, our youth should be trained from the first in a stricter system than that which prevails at present.”
Book IV:
Sections 427d–445e: Discussion of the tripartite soul and definition of justice in both the city and the individual.
First two sentences: “I agree. Then we may assume that the task which we have set before ourselves is now accomplished, and that we have brought to light the principles of justice and injustice in the state.”
Last two sentences: “Very true, he replied. Yes, I said, and we may say that these principles of justice and injustice reside in the state and the individual alike.”
Analects: Books 5-8
Tao Te Ching: Chapters 1-20
Week 7: October 21
Republic: Book VII
Analects: Books 9-12
Tao Te Ching: Chapters 21-40
Week 8: October 28
Republic: Book IX
Analects: Books 13-16
Tao Te Ching: Chapters 41-60
Week 9: November 4
Republic: Book X
Analects: Books 17-20
Tao Te Ching: Chapters 61-81
Week 10: November 11
Odyssey: 1-12
Week 11: November 18
Odyssey: 13-24
No class the week of Thanksgiving.
Week 12: December 2
Review rough drafts of final projects.
Week 12: December 5
Public presentation of final projects.
A public portfolio of high quality work will do more for your future than a college degree.
Conclusion
If you had tried to understand/explain/illustrate a question of wisdom before taking this class, you would have done X well. Now that you have taken the class – now that you have read some of the Great Works and tried your own hand at creation – you will do Y well. The success (or failure) of the class can be measured by comparing Y with X.
Acknowledgements
Inspiration for aspects of this course comes from Directed Studies at Yale, Humanities 110 at Reed, Humanities 10 at Harvard, The Core Curriculum at Columbia, New Saint Andrews, St. Johns College, Thomas Acquainas College, Boston College’s Perspectives on Western Culture, the Comprehensive Reading List from the University of Dallas, and Baylor’s Great Texts program.