Tag Archives: David Hume

Let Us Sit upon the Ground and Tell Sad Stories of the Death of Kings

Posted on March 27, 2013 by

After the heaviness of Ptolemy, Aristotle, and Hegel, I figured we could lighten things up by reading a socialist. That should be good entertainment! Here are the readings for the coming week: Six Characters in Search of an Author by … Continue reading →

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The Christmas Carol Before “A Christmas Carol”

Posted on December 19, 2012 by

I’m clawing my way back towards a Great Books Monday post. Making up two days this week is a good start. The prospect of finishing The Critique of Pure Reason is a powerful motivator to get started on this week’s … Continue reading →

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Do Russian Authors Ever Write Happy Stories?

Posted on November 8, 2012 by

I’ve been limping through last week’s Great Books readings over the last ten days (no, it’s not the result of watching election coverage) and am finally ready to post on them. I have some catching up to do (Kant is … Continue reading →

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Leaving Eden

Posted on October 29, 2012 by

It looks like I’m just barely going to make an actual Great Books Monday post this week. The big news is that, after wrapping up Paradise Lost last week, we embark today on Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, which … Continue reading →

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Is Luxury Good or Evil?

Posted on July 16, 2012 by

On this Great Books Monday, I hope you are in a calculating mood. Not only are we embarking on one of Aristotle’s works on logic, but we’re also reading the father of amoral political calculation this week. Here are the … Continue reading →

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Hume on Miracles and Charles Babbage’s Response

Posted on January 18, 2012 by

A few weeks ago, I deferred commenting in my weekly Great Books post on David Hume’s argument in An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding against miracles, writing that I wanted to devote an entire post to the subject. Between my travels, … Continue reading →

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“Cut Me One From His Small!”

Posted on December 20, 2011 by

Here are some observations on last week’s Great Books readings: Moby Dick by Herman Melville, Chapters 55-75: If Ahab’s soliloquy over the dead sperm whale didn’t give you chills, I think there must be something wrong with you. And since … Continue reading →

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Goodbye, Alexander Hamilton

Posted on December 12, 2011 by

As we close in on the end of the first year of this Great Books reading program, I’m looking back over the list of works we’ve read and can’t help being impressed. That list will only grow, of course. I’ll … Continue reading →

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Captain Ahab Means Business

Posted on December 5, 2011 by

Another Monday, another feeling of accomplishment at what we read in the past week. If you find yourself struggling to find enough time to read, consider picking up audio versions of some of these works and listening to them in … Continue reading →

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Moderns Hate Aristotle

Posted on November 28, 2011 by

Reading the Great Books won’t burn off the turkey you ate last week, but it ought to. This week we pass 1,500 pages in Imaginative Literature and 1,300 pages in Philosophy and Theology; that is some hard work, let me … Continue reading →

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