A Great Idea
There is a new book out about the Great Books. It is called “A Great Idea at the Time” by Alex Beam. The Great Books of the Western World were published as a large volume set by the University of Chicago and the Encyclopedia Britannica in 1952. According to Alex Beam, the Great Books made “no concessions to contemporary taste, or even pleasure.”
Well, they weren’t supposed to. The books are supposed to outline the foundations of Western Civilization.
Beam’s book seems pretty interesting, being billed as chronicling the “rise and fall of the project.” I’m not convinced it has completely fallen, it’s just lying dormant in many places. The Great Books are a source of controversy. Sure, in their initial incarnation they were overwhelmed by “dead, white males.” And the 1990 re-release didn’t really help that perception. Of course a Great Books of the Western World will be dominated by white males (who, of course, are dead), as it is only relatively recently in history that non-white and non-males have been permitted to contribute significantly to cultural development. Surely nowadays we would add such writers as Jane Austen, Booker T. Washington, Watson and Crick, and other developments in thinking that have changed our approach to the world (feel free to name your own that you think belong in the canon).
The idea of Great Books of the Western World (which include all fields of human study – religion, literature, sociology, science, and many many more) and the idea of Great Ideas of the Western World forming a basis for a society and culture that creates such richness and value as Western culture has is inspiring. The Great Books represent knowledge that we pass down. They represent the thoughts that must be addressed, the ideas that must be respected, and the questions that must be answered. There are, of course, modern incarnations of the idea – what else is Lapham’s Quarterly, but an attempt to apply the idea of the Great Books in bite size nuggets?
The Great Books of the Western World were almost certainly a great idea for their time. They are a great idea. Period. For all time.
The EPA clarified its position on carbon nanotubes yesterday, saying that 