What do you think?
Rate this book
The Great Ideas: A Syntopicon of Great Books of the Western World: Volume II
Great Books of the Western World, Volume 3 of 54
The collection compiles history's greatest written works, from the ancient classics to more recent masterpieces, and contains 517 works from 130 of the most renowned minds throughout history.
Collection ISBN: 0852291639
Nineteenth printing, 1971
The collection compiles history's greatest written works, from the ancient classics to more recent masterpieces, and contains 517 works from 130 of the most renowned minds throughout history.
Collection ISBN: 0852291639
Nineteenth printing, 1971
1346 pages, Leather Bound
First published January 1, 1952
10 people are currently reading
347 people want to read
About the author
Mortimer J. Adler
592 books1,049 followersNumerous published works of American educator and philosopher Mortimer Jerome Adler include
How to Read a Book
(1940) and
The Conditions of Philosophy
(1965).
This popular author worked with thought of Aristotle and Saint Thomas Aquinas. He lived for the longest stretches in cities of New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and San Mateo. He worked for Columbia University, the University of Chicago, Encyclopædia Britannica, and own institute for philosophical research.
Born to Jewish immigrants, he dropped out school at 14 years of age in 1917 to a copy boy for the New York Sun with the ultimate aspiration to a journalist. Adler quickly returned to school to take writing classes at night and discovered the works of Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and other men, whom he came to call heroes. He went to study at Columbia University and contributed to the student literary magazine, The Morningside, (a poem "Choice" in 1922 when Charles A. Wagner was editor-in-chief and Whittaker Chambers an associate editor). Though he failed to pass the required swimming test for a bachelor's degree (a matter that was rectified when Columbia gave him an honorary degree in 1983), he stayed at the university and eventually received an instructorship and finally a doctorate in psychology. While at Columbia University, Adler wrote his first book: Dialectic, published in 1927.
In 1930 Robert Hutchins, the newly appointed president of the University of Chicago, whom Adler had befriended some years earlier, arranged for Chicago’s law school to hire him as a professor of the philosophy of law; the philosophers at Chicago (who included James H. Tufts, E.A. Burtt, and George H. Mead) had "entertained grave doubts as to Mr. Adler's competence in the field [of philosophy]" and resisted Adler's appointment to the University's Department of Philosophy. Adler was the first "non-lawyer" to join the law school faculty. Adler also taught philosophy to business executives at the Aspen Institute.
Adler and Hutchins went on to found the Great Books of the Western World program and the Great Books Foundation. Adler founded and served as director of the Institute for Philosophical Research in 1952. He also served on the Board of Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica since its inception in 1949, and succeeded Hutchins as its chairman from 1974. As the director of editorial planning for the fifteenth edition of Britannica from 1965, he was instrumental in the major reorganization of knowledge embodied in that edition. He introduced the Paideia Proposal which resulted in his founding the Paideia Program, a grade-school curriculum centered around guided reading and discussion of difficult works (as judged for each grade). With Max Weismann, he founded The Center for the Study of The Great Ideas.
Adler long strove to bring philosophy to the masses, and some of his works (such as How to Read a Book) became popular bestsellers. He was also an advocate of economic democracy and wrote an influential preface to Louis Kelso's The Capitalist Manifesto. Adler was often aided in his thinking and writing by Arthur Rubin, an old friend from his Columbia undergraduate days. In his own words:
Unlike many of my contemporaries, I never write books for my fellow professors to read. I have no interest in the academic audience at all. I'm interested in Joe Doakes. A general audience can read any book I write—and they do.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortimer...
This popular author worked with thought of Aristotle and Saint Thomas Aquinas. He lived for the longest stretches in cities of New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and San Mateo. He worked for Columbia University, the University of Chicago, Encyclopædia Britannica, and own institute for philosophical research.
Born to Jewish immigrants, he dropped out school at 14 years of age in 1917 to a copy boy for the New York Sun with the ultimate aspiration to a journalist. Adler quickly returned to school to take writing classes at night and discovered the works of Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and other men, whom he came to call heroes. He went to study at Columbia University and contributed to the student literary magazine, The Morningside, (a poem "Choice" in 1922 when Charles A. Wagner was editor-in-chief and Whittaker Chambers an associate editor). Though he failed to pass the required swimming test for a bachelor's degree (a matter that was rectified when Columbia gave him an honorary degree in 1983), he stayed at the university and eventually received an instructorship and finally a doctorate in psychology. While at Columbia University, Adler wrote his first book: Dialectic, published in 1927.
In 1930 Robert Hutchins, the newly appointed president of the University of Chicago, whom Adler had befriended some years earlier, arranged for Chicago’s law school to hire him as a professor of the philosophy of law; the philosophers at Chicago (who included James H. Tufts, E.A. Burtt, and George H. Mead) had "entertained grave doubts as to Mr. Adler's competence in the field [of philosophy]" and resisted Adler's appointment to the University's Department of Philosophy. Adler was the first "non-lawyer" to join the law school faculty. Adler also taught philosophy to business executives at the Aspen Institute.
Adler and Hutchins went on to found the Great Books of the Western World program and the Great Books Foundation. Adler founded and served as director of the Institute for Philosophical Research in 1952. He also served on the Board of Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica since its inception in 1949, and succeeded Hutchins as its chairman from 1974. As the director of editorial planning for the fifteenth edition of Britannica from 1965, he was instrumental in the major reorganization of knowledge embodied in that edition. He introduced the Paideia Proposal which resulted in his founding the Paideia Program, a grade-school curriculum centered around guided reading and discussion of difficult works (as judged for each grade). With Max Weismann, he founded The Center for the Study of The Great Ideas.
Adler long strove to bring philosophy to the masses, and some of his works (such as How to Read a Book) became popular bestsellers. He was also an advocate of economic democracy and wrote an influential preface to Louis Kelso's The Capitalist Manifesto. Adler was often aided in his thinking and writing by Arthur Rubin, an old friend from his Columbia undergraduate days. In his own words:
Unlike many of my contemporaries, I never write books for my fellow professors to read. I have no interest in the academic audience at all. I'm interested in Joe Doakes. A general audience can read any book I write—and they do.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortimer...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 17, 2017
The 2-volume "Syntopicon" of Britannica's Great Books of the Western World, providing a survey and a concordance of the Great Ideas treated in the remaining 51 volumes of the set, is itself one of the most important works of the 20th century.
One of the criticisms I've read of the Great Books series is that it is little more than a "reading list" of important works of literature. That criticism might have some justification, if it were not for the Syntopicon, which orients the reader to the content of the Great Books, breaking down the entire set into its 102 component "Great Ideas"—the key topics addressed by Western literature as a whole since its inception.
As Robert Maynard Hutchins was editor in chief of the Great Books series as a whole, Mortimer J. Adler was editor in chief of The Great Ideas, the 2-volume Syntopicon. During the preparation of the series, Adler worked with a staff of up to 72 people, combing through the Great Books to identify and locate the main ideas contained in them, and distilling the result into a final list of Great Ideas, listed alphabetically from Angel to World.
Each of the Great Ideas forms a chapter of the 2-volume Syntopicon, and each chapter is structured identically: it begins with an introductory essay by Adler, providing an overview of how that idea has been understood and discussed in the tradition of the Great Books, followed by an outline of topics, which breaks down the discussion into its component aspects. For example, in Chapter 10, "Change", some of the topics are: "1. The nature and reality of change or motion"; "2. The unchanging principle of change", which is broken further into the subtopics "2a. The constituents of the changing thing" and "2b. The factor of opposites or contraries in change". Altogether, "Change" is broken into 15 topics, 9 of which are broken down further into subtopics.
Next, each chapter contains the crucial References section, which lists the topics again, but now each followed by the specific references within the Great Books where the discussion may be found. In that same chapter on "Change", the references run to 14 pages. The first set of references, under the first topic of "The nature and reality of change or motion", is from Volume 7 of the set, Plato, and contains specific page references from 12 of Plato's works, such as Cratylus, Phaedrus, and so on. Then there's a set of references from Volume 8, Aristotle; Volume 9, Aristotle; Volume 10, Galen; Volume 11, Nicomachus; and so on up to Volume 53, James. Then references to the next topic are listed.
After the References in each chapter come the Cross-References: pointers to where aspects of the Idea are given additional treatment in other chapters of the Syntopicon. Finally there is a section of Additional Readings, listing other works in the Western tradition that also treat the Idea in question. These works are broken down into those by authors who are part of the Great Books series, and those by other authors. Many of these additional readings also include chapter references of their own, to help the reader find the material.
In addition, the Syntopicon contains detailed essays explaining exactly how the Great Books set and its Syntopicon were developed. The processes by which the books were chosen and the Great Ideas identified are explained in detail. (The editor in chief Hutchins also explains, in Volume 1, why it is a set of "Western" books, not Eastern or "World".)
In my opinion, the Syntopicon, along with the Great Books, is an unparalleled gift to humanity. In terms of the project's vision, its importance, and the quantity and quality of effort it represents, it is a stupendous achievement, and cheap at any price.
The Syntopicon provides what amounts to a survey course of the Great Ideas of the Western tradition. The Great Books themselves then provide the detailed courses. A "syntopical" reading is just this: a reading by topic. And this is the unique strength of the Britannica Great Books series.
The main thing I have learned from reading the Syntopicon is that I am not educated. Whatever I've learned up until now, at age 52, does not constitute a true liberal education. Now, thanks to the efforts of these people, I am getting one, and I warmly encourage you to take advantage of the remainder of your life to do the same.
One of the criticisms I've read of the Great Books series is that it is little more than a "reading list" of important works of literature. That criticism might have some justification, if it were not for the Syntopicon, which orients the reader to the content of the Great Books, breaking down the entire set into its 102 component "Great Ideas"—the key topics addressed by Western literature as a whole since its inception.
As Robert Maynard Hutchins was editor in chief of the Great Books series as a whole, Mortimer J. Adler was editor in chief of The Great Ideas, the 2-volume Syntopicon. During the preparation of the series, Adler worked with a staff of up to 72 people, combing through the Great Books to identify and locate the main ideas contained in them, and distilling the result into a final list of Great Ideas, listed alphabetically from Angel to World.
Each of the Great Ideas forms a chapter of the 2-volume Syntopicon, and each chapter is structured identically: it begins with an introductory essay by Adler, providing an overview of how that idea has been understood and discussed in the tradition of the Great Books, followed by an outline of topics, which breaks down the discussion into its component aspects. For example, in Chapter 10, "Change", some of the topics are: "1. The nature and reality of change or motion"; "2. The unchanging principle of change", which is broken further into the subtopics "2a. The constituents of the changing thing" and "2b. The factor of opposites or contraries in change". Altogether, "Change" is broken into 15 topics, 9 of which are broken down further into subtopics.
Next, each chapter contains the crucial References section, which lists the topics again, but now each followed by the specific references within the Great Books where the discussion may be found. In that same chapter on "Change", the references run to 14 pages. The first set of references, under the first topic of "The nature and reality of change or motion", is from Volume 7 of the set, Plato, and contains specific page references from 12 of Plato's works, such as Cratylus, Phaedrus, and so on. Then there's a set of references from Volume 8, Aristotle; Volume 9, Aristotle; Volume 10, Galen; Volume 11, Nicomachus; and so on up to Volume 53, James. Then references to the next topic are listed.
After the References in each chapter come the Cross-References: pointers to where aspects of the Idea are given additional treatment in other chapters of the Syntopicon. Finally there is a section of Additional Readings, listing other works in the Western tradition that also treat the Idea in question. These works are broken down into those by authors who are part of the Great Books series, and those by other authors. Many of these additional readings also include chapter references of their own, to help the reader find the material.
In addition, the Syntopicon contains detailed essays explaining exactly how the Great Books set and its Syntopicon were developed. The processes by which the books were chosen and the Great Ideas identified are explained in detail. (The editor in chief Hutchins also explains, in Volume 1, why it is a set of "Western" books, not Eastern or "World".)
In my opinion, the Syntopicon, along with the Great Books, is an unparalleled gift to humanity. In terms of the project's vision, its importance, and the quantity and quality of effort it represents, it is a stupendous achievement, and cheap at any price.
The Syntopicon provides what amounts to a survey course of the Great Ideas of the Western tradition. The Great Books themselves then provide the detailed courses. A "syntopical" reading is just this: a reading by topic. And this is the unique strength of the Britannica Great Books series.
The main thing I have learned from reading the Syntopicon is that I am not educated. Whatever I've learned up until now, at age 52, does not constitute a true liberal education. Now, thanks to the efforts of these people, I am getting one, and I warmly encourage you to take advantage of the remainder of your life to do the same.
April 19, 2024
Three down, 51 to go. Having finally arrived in the Elysian Fields of the select few who have read the entirety of The Great Ideas (all 102 of them, including the supplementary explanatory material), I can relievedly say it was all worth it. Perhaps the age in which I live is showing too much, but I found it somewhat perplexing at first that Hutchens and Adler (assuming Mr. Adler did most of the appendix writing) viewed the References as the most important part of the Syntopicon - not the Introductions, as I initially believed. Upon further reflection (and diligent travel through the supplementary material), their view makes more sense.
The 102 Introductions (written all by Hutchens!) are merely that: introductions, designed to whet the reader's appetite, the reader being a layman and neophyte into the world of the Great Ideas and the Great Books (the same world, the same Realms of Gold as Keats' so acutely puts it). Read the Introductions, definitely, but the point of The Great Ideas is not to know what Mr. Hutchens thinks about the authors and the ideas (though he does an impressive job keeping himself out of it). The Introductions create the admittedly fabricated aura of entering a particular discourse within The Great Conversation, or perhaps a precis upon a section of it - and really what Hutchens, Adler, and Friends want you to do is listen to the Authors themselves speak for themselves (admittedly, mostly in translation). Go to what the Great Books say and read for yourself: here's where you can find a lot of what they have to say - says the Syntopicon.
Much maligned, always for the wrong reasons (and proving exactly why the Great Books are needed more than ever), the Syntopicon is a great reference tool. I may have used it more for the Introductions than the References, but I'm glad to have worked my way through it on this two-year journey, even if I have to squash any nascent regret at not travelling this journey a decade or two ago. The only negative to the Syntopicon, really, is the Bibliography of Additional Reading. As if working through the Great Books of the Western World is not enough, suddenly a recommended reading list of another 1,000+ books worth reading shows up! All before 1953! Better get crackin', I suppose. So should you.
The 102 Introductions (written all by Hutchens!) are merely that: introductions, designed to whet the reader's appetite, the reader being a layman and neophyte into the world of the Great Ideas and the Great Books (the same world, the same Realms of Gold as Keats' so acutely puts it). Read the Introductions, definitely, but the point of The Great Ideas is not to know what Mr. Hutchens thinks about the authors and the ideas (though he does an impressive job keeping himself out of it). The Introductions create the admittedly fabricated aura of entering a particular discourse within The Great Conversation, or perhaps a precis upon a section of it - and really what Hutchens, Adler, and Friends want you to do is listen to the Authors themselves speak for themselves (admittedly, mostly in translation). Go to what the Great Books say and read for yourself: here's where you can find a lot of what they have to say - says the Syntopicon.
Much maligned, always for the wrong reasons (and proving exactly why the Great Books are needed more than ever), the Syntopicon is a great reference tool. I may have used it more for the Introductions than the References, but I'm glad to have worked my way through it on this two-year journey, even if I have to squash any nascent regret at not travelling this journey a decade or two ago. The only negative to the Syntopicon, really, is the Bibliography of Additional Reading. As if working through the Great Books of the Western World is not enough, suddenly a recommended reading list of another 1,000+ books worth reading shows up! All before 1953! Better get crackin', I suppose. So should you.
January 3, 2015
This volume covers the Great Ideas from Man to World. In an essay located after these entries, you will learn how the Great Books, Great Ideas and topics were chosen. It's a must-read to gain a liberal education.
February 16, 2010
I am doing the section on Progress. Decided to move on to other reads.
July 9, 2022
Mortimer Adler regularly claimed that it was impossible to be educated before the age of 40. If true, I would also suggest it is difficult to be educated without working through something like his Syntopicon. The setup is the same as the earlier volume. There is a ten page essay, topical indexes, and a recommended reading list. This review will only outline his key topics, the various positions taken, and how the great thinkers interacted with their predecessors, if time permits.
Man
Man is the only subject where the knower and the object known are the same (Adler 1). Indeed, “the human intellect is able to examine itself.”
The Western tradition is divided on man’s essence. The standard (and correct) view is that man differs from animals because he is rational. His use of speech is a consequence of this rationality. It is not the main difference. If this is true, then there must be some distinction between reason and sense (5).
Mind
The mind is capable of self-knowledge. This is the difference between sense and intellect. Senses do not seem to be aware of themselves (172).
Following Aristotle, we see that if “the soul is the principle of life and all vital activities, so mind is the subordinate principle of knowledge” (173). And the act of intellect moves as such:
1) conception
2) judgment
3) reasoning.
Monarchy
Adler wisely separates the principle of absolute government from monarchy, since republics and democracies can be as absolutist (205). Monarchy as an idea underwent a transformation in the Middle Ages. It did resemble an absolute system in one sense by giving power to one man, yet it placed supremacy of law in the hands of the people (207). The only problem with this idea is that given its birth in feudalism, it did not last long in the modern age.
Hegel suggests a robust constitutional monarchy. In this view the state is more of a corporation. The advantage of this view is that it is quite flexible with modernity and market forces It doesn’t have any of the disadvantages that plagued medieval models. On the other hand, it’s not always clear what Hegel is saying.
One and the Many
In line with Aristotle, unity is the first property of being. All contraries are reducible to things like being/nonbeing, one/many, etc. Moreover, unity belongs to the individual natural substance. Man is a substance. He is not made of other substances. Machines, though, are.
This is somewhat different from Plato. Plato’s view had problems. The idea of the one is also one idea among many. Plotinus corrected some of these problems. For him, the one transcends being. It also transcends intelligence, since knowing requires an object, which would introduce duality into the One.
Opposition
Opposites do not simply distinguish, they exclude.
Plato: Everything has one opposite. This was his idea in Gorgias and Protagoras on the unity of virtue. This also illustrates the numerous subdivisions in Western taxonomies.
Aristotle: made the distinction between correlative opposites (double, one-half) and contrary opposites (odd/even).
Hegel: Unites opposites by reconciling their differences. Every finite phase of reality has its own contrary. For example, being and nonbeing imply and exclude one another. They are united in becoming.
Reasoning
The words “if” and “then” indicate that reason is a motion of the mind from one alternative to another.
Plotinus: any form of thinking signifies a weakness. It introduces duality. Higher intelligences, by contrast, know by intuition. Later Christian thinkers didn’t accept this extreme a view, but they did borrow his idea on intuition and applied it to angelic intelligences.
All the praise I gave of volume one also applies to this volume.
Man
Man is the only subject where the knower and the object known are the same (Adler 1). Indeed, “the human intellect is able to examine itself.”
The Western tradition is divided on man’s essence. The standard (and correct) view is that man differs from animals because he is rational. His use of speech is a consequence of this rationality. It is not the main difference. If this is true, then there must be some distinction between reason and sense (5).
Mind
The mind is capable of self-knowledge. This is the difference between sense and intellect. Senses do not seem to be aware of themselves (172).
Following Aristotle, we see that if “the soul is the principle of life and all vital activities, so mind is the subordinate principle of knowledge” (173). And the act of intellect moves as such:
1) conception
2) judgment
3) reasoning.
Monarchy
Adler wisely separates the principle of absolute government from monarchy, since republics and democracies can be as absolutist (205). Monarchy as an idea underwent a transformation in the Middle Ages. It did resemble an absolute system in one sense by giving power to one man, yet it placed supremacy of law in the hands of the people (207). The only problem with this idea is that given its birth in feudalism, it did not last long in the modern age.
Hegel suggests a robust constitutional monarchy. In this view the state is more of a corporation. The advantage of this view is that it is quite flexible with modernity and market forces It doesn’t have any of the disadvantages that plagued medieval models. On the other hand, it’s not always clear what Hegel is saying.
One and the Many
In line with Aristotle, unity is the first property of being. All contraries are reducible to things like being/nonbeing, one/many, etc. Moreover, unity belongs to the individual natural substance. Man is a substance. He is not made of other substances. Machines, though, are.
This is somewhat different from Plato. Plato’s view had problems. The idea of the one is also one idea among many. Plotinus corrected some of these problems. For him, the one transcends being. It also transcends intelligence, since knowing requires an object, which would introduce duality into the One.
Opposition
Opposites do not simply distinguish, they exclude.
Plato: Everything has one opposite. This was his idea in Gorgias and Protagoras on the unity of virtue. This also illustrates the numerous subdivisions in Western taxonomies.
Aristotle: made the distinction between correlative opposites (double, one-half) and contrary opposites (odd/even).
Hegel: Unites opposites by reconciling their differences. Every finite phase of reality has its own contrary. For example, being and nonbeing imply and exclude one another. They are united in becoming.
Reasoning
The words “if” and “then” indicate that reason is a motion of the mind from one alternative to another.
Plotinus: any form of thinking signifies a weakness. It introduces duality. Higher intelligences, by contrast, know by intuition. Later Christian thinkers didn’t accept this extreme a view, but they did borrow his idea on intuition and applied it to angelic intelligences.
All the praise I gave of volume one also applies to this volume.
Want to read
February 22, 2011This volume is part of The Great Books collection that consists of 54 volumes. I actually have picked up 3 sets of the Great Books. Unfortunately they remain unread.
One of the 3 sets is missing volume 27, which is a Shakespeare Volume.
I would be willing to part with 2 sets at a very reasonable price. The problem is the cost of shipping would probably be more than you could find a set for at say half-price books. Although they tend to run between 200-300$ there. What I need is someone in the Tacoma, Puyallup, Seattle, Belleve, Washington area to want them and pick them up. I'm not sure the Seattle Friends of the Library would really want them for their semi-annual booksales. At one time the Evergreen State University in Olympia offered a Great Books curriculum. So if they do and you were a student in that program and needed the books, I could work with you. These books are for anyone interested in classic literature and philosopy.
If you've ever wanted a set, this is an opportunity.
One of the 3 sets is missing volume 27, which is a Shakespeare Volume.
I would be willing to part with 2 sets at a very reasonable price. The problem is the cost of shipping would probably be more than you could find a set for at say half-price books. Although they tend to run between 200-300$ there. What I need is someone in the Tacoma, Puyallup, Seattle, Belleve, Washington area to want them and pick them up. I'm not sure the Seattle Friends of the Library would really want them for their semi-annual booksales. At one time the Evergreen State University in Olympia offered a Great Books curriculum. So if they do and you were a student in that program and needed the books, I could work with you. These books are for anyone interested in classic literature and philosopy.
If you've ever wanted a set, this is an opportunity.
July 23, 2020
This is a great but no easy read of 100+ ideas in western literature.
I read a chapter/topic every night as inspiration for a bedtime story for my 10 year old daughter in 2020 during the Corona lock down period in the Netherlands. I did not read every chapter in full, but basically the first page, the summary and some sections.
In addition I looked up the same topic online to get a deeper insight. Crash Course Philosophy on YOUTUBE was of great help as it was short and sweet, discussing many of the main issues as well.
The bedtime stories only dealt with a general description of the chapter for about 1 minute and then featured an adventure of her favourite characters that somehow encountered the idea in one way or another. Not all of the stories were masterpieces, but we both enjoyed the journey. I taped it all but as it is in Dutch, it is of not much use to many. Still I may put it online one day.
So yes buy the 2 books and let it inspire you to investigate the topics and some of the writers- by far the most discussed is Aristotle -
I read a chapter/topic every night as inspiration for a bedtime story for my 10 year old daughter in 2020 during the Corona lock down period in the Netherlands. I did not read every chapter in full, but basically the first page, the summary and some sections.
In addition I looked up the same topic online to get a deeper insight. Crash Course Philosophy on YOUTUBE was of great help as it was short and sweet, discussing many of the main issues as well.
The bedtime stories only dealt with a general description of the chapter for about 1 minute and then featured an adventure of her favourite characters that somehow encountered the idea in one way or another. Not all of the stories were masterpieces, but we both enjoyed the journey. I taped it all but as it is in Dutch, it is of not much use to many. Still I may put it online one day.
So yes buy the 2 books and let it inspire you to investigate the topics and some of the writers- by far the most discussed is Aristotle -
August 19, 2016
I will use this book (along with its part I) as reference during reading Great Books.
Want to read
April 7, 2020@Conaw:
Books 2 and 3 of this series "The Syntopicon" were inspiration for @RoamResearch
An index of all the ideas across all the great books - with summary of how idea evolved throughout "the great conversation" + precise links to the paragraphs where idea was discussed by var authors
https://twitter.com/conaw/status/1247...
Books 2 and 3 of this series "The Syntopicon" were inspiration for @RoamResearch
An index of all the ideas across all the great books - with summary of how idea evolved throughout "the great conversation" + precise links to the paragraphs where idea was discussed by var authors
https://twitter.com/conaw/status/1247...
May 17, 2020
A wonderful summation of Western thought. Important reading for every pastor and longtime Christian as an antidote to the naïve notion that man without God and the Bible, even Western man, is a credible thinker. Not true! It is the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom and not anything else!
August 6, 2020
An absolute `must read´ for anyone with a hint of intellectual ambition.
May 29, 2023
Great essays. I can’t imagine how long it took reference every time these ideas were mentioned across the entire series.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews