Presented by
Carol Donlon
EDAE 520
GREAT BOOKS
R.M Hutchins Believed Education
Should Be:
 “Neither a means toward earning a living nor
of promoting social reform.” (Education , 1953, p. 5)
 “It’s object to prepare the young to educate
themselves throughout their lives.” (Education , 1953,
p.5)
 “It should provide a common stock of
fundamental ideas.” (McGettigan & Messina, 2011, p. 3)
How do we obtain this common
stock of ideas?
By reading and discussing the
Great Books
Story Behind The Great Books
 1940’s - R.M. Hutchins and Mortimer Adler, discuss
education reform to address specialization and decline of
liberal arts
 Great Books education program starts at the University
of Chicago
 1947 -Great Books Foundation is formed to discuss
important books regarding western tradition and
paperback editions are published
(History, n.d.)
 1947 – Sen. Benton requests that Adler and Hutchins
draw up a definitive list for Encyclopaedia Britannica
publication (Carmac, n.d.)
Great Books are Launched
 Released April 15, 1952
 54 volumes
 443 works
 74 writers from Homer to Freud
 102 Great Ideas
(Bethune , 2008)
What Are Great Books?
 A group of books that some authorities and
institutions view as constituting the
foundations of western culture (Great Books, 2011)
 A method of education using a discussion
approach (Socratic method) based on these
books (Carmack, n.d.)
Great Books Examine:
History
Politics
Religion
Philosophy
Fiction
Mathematics
Drama
Ethics
Poetry
Education
Natural Science
Example of Authors and Works:
 Aristotle – Politics
 Austen – Emma
 Freud – The Unconscious
 Hippocrates – Works
 Plato – Laws
 Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet
 Tolstoy – War and Peace
 Woolf – To the Lighthouse
(Great Books of the Western World, 2011)
How does a book become a
Great Book?
Three Criteria:
1) Contemporary significance to the issues of our
times
2) Inexhaustible as it can be read many times and
still provide benefit
3) Relevant to a many of the of great ideas and
issues for the last 25 centuries
(Great Books, 2011)
Response to Great Books
Critics
Supporters
“Great Books is a
potpourri of conflicting
views…that
continuously strive to
refute other views that
purportedly comprise a
single tradition.”
“Great Books does not
stifle debate, nor do
they favor the ideas of
one group within
society over those of
another.”
(Deneen, 2010, p. 32)
(Hafner, 1991, p. 1062)
Response to Great Books
Critics
Great Books are “icons
of unreadability.”
(Bethune, 2008, p. 3)
Supporters
“ …readers are capable
of understanding far
more than the critics
deem possible.” (Great
Books of the Western World, 2011, p. 5)
“Reading the Great
Books requires a lot of
hard work.” (Hafner, 1991, p.
1063)
“Struggling with one of
these texts improves
one’s reasoning and
critical skills.” (Hafner, 1991,
p. 1063)
More Responses
Critics
 Selected parts of the
western world are over
represented
 Narrow selection of
authors and works
Supporters
“These criticisms may be
accurate, but they do not
invalidate the importance
of the Great Books or the
significance of the list’s
revision.” (Hafner,1992, p. 1062)
(Great Books of the Western World, 2011)
 The contributions of
women and minorities to
western culture, is not
represented
(Hafner, 1992)
Adler states, “we did not
base our selections on an
author’s nationality,
religion, politics, or field of
study; nor on an author’s
race or gender.” (Great Books of
the Western World, 2011, p. 11)
Great Books Relevance Today
Critic
Supporter
“ignores the audience
and in so doing reveals
its parochialism, its
innocence towards
history.
We no longer live in a
book dominated
culture; to treat our
students as though we
did is to violate their
very psychic structure.”
“ We want the voices
(Wilhelmsend, 1987, p. 331.)
of the great
conversation to be
heard again because
we think they may help
us to live better now…
that progress and
progress in education
in particular, depends
on the incorporation of
the ideas and images in
this set…” (Hutchins, 1952, p. 47)
The Great Books Live on In:
 Great Books Foundation
 Universities and colleges
 K- 12 classrooms
 Libraries
 Discussion groups
 Prison outreach programs
 Blogs
For further information go to:
http://www.greatbooks.org
Citations
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Bethune, B. (2008). Great shams of the western world. Maclean’s, 121 (49) 50
Carmack, P. (n.d.). A return to the classics. Retrieved from
http://www.greatbooksacademy.org
Deneen, P. (2010). Why great books aren’t the answer. Current, September, 31-33
Education: The great conversation (1953) Retrieved from
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,890674,00.html
Great Books. (2011) Retrieved from http://www.answers.com/topic/great-books
Great Books of the western world. (2011) Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_World
Hafner, A.W. (1991). On my mind: in defense of the great books. American
Libraries, 22 (11), 1062-1063.
History of the Great Books Foundation. (n.d.) Retrieved from
http://greatbooks.org/about/history
Hutchins, R.M. (1952) The Great Conversation. Retrieved from
http://www.britannica.com/blogs/wp-content/pdf/The_Great_Conversation.pdf
McGettigan, B. & Messina, J. (2011). The educational theory of R.M. Hutchins.
Retrieved from http://www.newfoundations.com/GALLERY/Hutchins.html
Wilhelmsen, F. (1987) The great books: enemy of wisdom. Modern Age,
Summer/Fall, 323-331.