August: Great Books in a Year
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| Date | Reading | Talk about it | Done |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 1 Day 213 | A Letter Concerning Toleration, John Locke Read: Full Text · grades 10–12 Parent note: 1689 spelling; clear argument. | Locke says faith is not faith without believing. Why does this make compulsion useless for salvation? | ☐ |
| August 2 Day 214 | Second Treatise of Government, John Locke (part 1 of 2) Read: Mdcclxiii to CHAPTER. VIII. OF THE BEGINNING OF POLITICAL SOCIETIES. · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | What counts, for Locke, as a 'long train of abuses'? Who decides? | ☐ |
| August 3 Day 215 | Second Treatise of Government, John Locke (part 2 of 2) Read: CHAPTER. IX. OF THE ENDS OF POLITICAL SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT. to CHAPTER. XIX. OF THE DISSOLUTION OF GOVERNMENT. · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Can Locke consistently say that I own my body but may not end my life? | ☐ |
| August 4 Day 216 | An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke (part 1 of 2) Read: In Four Books to CHAPTER XVII. · grades Adult/Advanced Parent note: hard philosophy Recommended for grades Adult/Advanced; read it first or together. | Is the 'white paper' image consistent with Locke's admission that the mind has active powers? | ☐ |
| August 5 Day 217 | An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke (part 2 of 2) Read: CHAPTER XVIII. 1. Other simple Modes of simple Ideas of sensation. to End Of Volume I · grades Adult/Advanced Parent note: hard philosophy Recommended for grades Adult/Advanced; read it first or together. | If a person cannot remember an act, are they the same person who did it? Why does Locke still allow the drunkard to be punished? | ☐ |
| August 6 Day 218 | A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, George Berkeley Read: Full Text to Full Text (part 3) · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Can you form a general idea of a triangle, or only a particular one used as a sign? | ☐ |
| August 7 Day 219 | An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume (part 1 of 2) Read: By David Hume to PART I. · grades 11–12 Parent note: demanding philosophy; best with guidance Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | How would Hume evaluate a single case report of a dramatic, unexpected recovery? | ☐ |
| August 8 Day 220 | An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume (part 2 of 2) Read: PART II. to Index · grades 11–12 Parent note: demanding philosophy; best with guidance Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Why does Hume think no argument could ever settle the problem of induction? | ☐ |
| August 9 Day 221 | Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift (part 1 of 2) Read: Remote Nations Of The World to CHAPTER I. · grades 9–12 Parent note: satire; crude episodes | Which of Lilliput's absurdities have modern equivalents? | ☐ |
| August 10 Day 222 | Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift (part 2 of 2) Read: CHAPTER II. to CHAPTER XII. · grades 9–12 Parent note: satire; crude episodes | Are the Houyhnhnms admirable or chilling? | ☐ |
| August 11 Day 223 | Candide: Or Optimism, Voltaire Read: Candide By Voltaire Introduction By Philip Littell to Xxviii · grades 11–12 Parent note: satire; sexual and violent content Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Is Voltaire fair to Leibniz's actual philosophy? | ☐ |
| August 12 Day 224 | Rameau's Nephew, Denis Diderot Read: The summary, argument and lessons on the library page · grades 12–12 Parent note: A cynical speaker defends parasitism and vice; mature content. Recommended for grades 12–12; read it first or together. | Is the nephew more honest than the people he flatters? Does honesty about vice make it less wrong? | ☐ |
| August 13 Day 225 | The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu (part 1 of 2) Read: The Translator to the Reader to Book XXI. Of Laws in relation to Commerce, considered in the Revolutions · grades 11–12 Parent note: long; best read in excerpts Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Which of Montesquieu's factors (government, climate, soil, religion, commerce, manners) seems strongest to you, and why? | ☐ |
| August 14 Day 226 | The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu (part 2 of 2) Read: Book XXII. Of Laws in Relation to the Use of Money to Book XXXI. Theory of the Feudal Laws among the Franks, in the Relation · grades 11–12 Parent note: long; best read in excerpts Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Why does Montesquieu say that even virtue has need of limits? | ☐ |
| August 15 Day 227 | Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, Jean-Jacques Rousseau Read: Full Text · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Why does Rousseau begin by laying aside facts? | ☐ |
| August 16 Day 228 | A Discourse on Political Economy, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (part 1 of 2) Read: Opening to CHAPTER IX. CONCLUSION · grades 11–12 Parent note: A short but abstract treatise; pair with selected chapters of The Social Contract. Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | List Rousseau's differences between the family and the state. Which is strongest? | ☐ |
| August 17 Day 229 | A Discourse on Political Economy, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (part 2 of 2) Read: CHAPTER IX. CONCLUSION (part 2) to CHAPTER IX. CONCLUSION (part 4) · grades 11–12 Parent note: A short but abstract treatise; pair with selected chapters of The Social Contract. Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Give an example of a group whose good might conflict with the good of the larger community. | ☐ |
| August 18 Day 230 | The Social Contract, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (part 1 of 2) Read: Jean Jacques Rousseau to Has The Restoration Of The Arts And Sciences Had A Purifying Effect · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Is Rousseau right that a 'right' that disappears with force was never a right at all? | ☐ |
| August 19 Day 231 | The Social Contract, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (part 2 of 2) Read: Moral Effects Of The Arts And Sciences to A Discourse On Political Economy · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | How could anyone tell whether a vote expressed the general will or merely the will of all? | ☐ |
| August 20 Day 232 | The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith (part 1 of 3) Read: Introduction and Plan of the Work to Book II, Chapter III: Of the Accumulation of Capital, or of · grades 11–12 Parent note: long; best read in excerpts Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | What three reasons does Smith give for the increase in output in the pin factory? | ☐ |
| August 21 Day 233 | The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith (part 2 of 3) Read: Book II, Chapter IV: Of Stock Lent at Interest to Book IV, Conclusion of the Mercantile System · grades 11–12 Parent note: long; best read in excerpts Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Why does Smith say we address ourselves not to the humanity but to the self-love of the butcher, brewer and baker? | ☐ |
| August 22 Day 234 | The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith (part 3 of 3) Read: Book IV, Chapter IX: Of the Agricultural Systems, or of to Book V, Chapter III: Of Public Debts · grades 11–12 Parent note: long; best read in excerpts Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | What does Smith say happens when people of the same trade meet together? | ☐ |
| August 23 Day 235 | Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant (part 1 of 2) Read: Chapter II. The Antinomy of Pure Reason. Section I. System of Cosmological Ideas. to Reason · grades Adult/Advanced Parent note: hard philosophy Recommended for grades Adult/Advanced; read it first or together. | Does Kant's view make the world less real, or only our access to it more structured? | ☐ |
| August 24 Day 236 | Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant (part 2 of 2) Read: General Remark to Chapter IV. The History of Pure Reason · grades Adult/Advanced Parent note: hard philosophy Recommended for grades Adult/Advanced; read it first or together. | Give an example of a 'blind' intuition and an 'empty' thought from your own experience. | ☐ |
| August 25 Day 237 | Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant Read: Fundamental Principles Of The Metaphysic Of Morals to The End · grades 11–12 Parent note: hard philosophy; best with guidance Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Is it plausible that a good will that achieves nothing has full moral worth? | ☐ |
| August 26 Day 238 | Critique of Practical Reason, Immanuel Kant (part 1 of 2) Read: Opening to CHAPTER III. Of the Motives of Pure Practical Reason. · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Why does Kant think the man would answer differently about lust and about false witness? | ☐ |
| August 27 Day 239 | Critique of Practical Reason, Immanuel Kant (part 2 of 2) Read: CHAPTER I. Of a Dialectic of Pure Practical Reason Generally. to CHAPTER II. Of the Dialectic of Pure Reason in defining the. Conception of the "Summum Bonum". · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | How does Kant's highest good differ from the Stoic and Epicurean versions he criticizes? | ☐ |
| August 28 Day 240 | The Critique of Judgement, Immanuel Kant (part 1 of 2) Read: Opening to PART I. CRITIQUE OF THE AESTHETICAL JUDGEMENT (part 3) · grades 12–12 Parent note: Very demanding; best read in selected sections (§§ 1-9, 23-29, 43-46, 59, 64-66, 86-87). Recommended for grades 12–12; read it first or together. | Kant says a judgement of taste claims universal agreement without a concept. Give an example from your own experience where you expected others to agree about beauty and could not prove it. | ☐ |
| August 29 Day 241 | The Critique of Judgement, Immanuel Kant (part 2 of 2) Read: PART I. CRITIQUE OF THE AESTHETICAL JUDGEMENT (part 4) to PART II. CRITIQUE OF THE TELEOLOGICAL JUDGEMENT (part 4) · grades 12–12 Parent note: Very demanding; best read in selected sections (§§ 1-9, 23-29, 43-46, 59, 64-66, 86-87). Recommended for grades 12–12; read it first or together. | Why, according to Kant, must the spectator be in security for a storm to seem sublime rather than simply terrifying? | ☐ |
| August 30 Day 242 | The Metaphysical Elements of Ethics, Immanuel Kant Read: Full Text · grades 12–12 Parent note: Senior seminar; read after the Groundwork, one numbered section at a time. Recommended for grades 12–12; read it first or together. | Why does Kant think the law can require honest dealing but cannot require reverence for justice? | ☐ |
| August 31 Day 243 | The Science of Right, Immanuel Kant (part 1 of 2) Read: Opening to CHAPTER II. The Mode of acquiring anything External. · grades 12–12 Parent note: Dense legal argument; read the Introduction, §§ 1-9, 41-49 with Remarks A and E, and §§ 53-62. Recommended for grades 12–12; read it first or together. | Kant says I may wish in my heart to infringe another's freedom and still be in the right, so long as I do not act. Is this a sound limit on law? | ☐ |