You would think the scholars who study the canon of Western literature would agree about what the Great Books say, but disagree about how great they really are. Well, there is a good deal of debate about how great they are, but even more about what they say -- though this is more true of some books than of others.
You’ve been blogging about faculty attitudes toward morality and religion. Let me share an incident from my introduction to anthropology course some years ago. It was a graduate “core” course, but some undergrads took it too; the grads had more work, more reading, and weekly tutorials.
I'm curious whether you know of any undergraduate degrees that are exclusive to the study of natural law. If there are none that you know of, do you know of any program that has natural law as its main emphasis?
The Wisdom books present some surprises – among them, a fair sampling of paradox. Take for example the book of Proverbs, which includes a number of apparently inconsistent sayings colliding head to head. This pair is from Chapter 26:
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.
One wonders what so-called values voters in the recent South Carolina primary thought they were doing. Apparently the wrong “values” were in play. Some were repelled by the ugly character of the winning candidate; most weren’t.
Among the cruelest slaveries is mood, because we recognize neither the master nor the manacle. In the first place we don’t notice our moods; in the second place we don’t notice that they have mastered us.
