Introduction

Notes

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Epistemology

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Andrius Kulikauskas

  • m a t h 4 w i s d o m - g m a i l
  • +370 607 27 665
  • My work is in the Public Domain for all to share freely.

用中文

  • 读物 书 影片 维基百科

Introduction E9F5FC

Questions FFFFC0

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What are the qualities of a great book for a civilization?


Checklist for a "Great book" for a civilization.

Examples:

  • Homer's Iliad and Odyssey for the Greeks
  • the Torah for the Jews
  • the Quran for Arabs and Muslims
  • Dante's Divine Comedy for Italians
  • Cervantes's Don Quixote for Spaniards
  • Goethe's Faust for Germans
  • Tolstoy's War and Peace for Russians
  • Cao Xueqin's Dream of the Red Chamber for the Chinese
  • Murasaki Shikibu's Genji Monogatari for the Japanese
  • Shakespeare's Hamlet for the English
  • Huckleberry Finn for Americans
  • Plato's Republic for ancient philosophers
  • Kant's Critique of Pure Reason for modern philosophers

A Great Book should include...

A great theme

which, in general, seems to be how a representative human stands up to the-powers-that-be.

A memorable character

Odysseus, Don Quixote, Jesus, Hamlet, Huckleberry Finn - a personality distinct from other people

An aphorism, a phrase that sums it all up

Love your enemy, fighting windmills, stream of consciousness

A range of small and large pieces

The Ten Commandments, The Sermon on the Mount, Kant's Prolegomenon, the "highlights", the "best parts"

An ever growing interpretation, performance and commentary

A mish mash of genres

An overall structure

A value system with related conflicts and resolutions

Multiple vantage points, but especially, "stepped in" and "stepped out".

A place, a time, a world of its own

Dublin, Ireland

A language that can be dead or alive, simple or obscure, created and creating

An embrace of earlier layers of culture

Incorporation into rituals

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This page was last changed on January 25, 2020, at 11:02 PM