from the great books of Western civilization in SearchWorks catalog (2024)

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Introduction: The Idea of Western Civilization – Western Civilization: A Concise History

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Responsibility: Mortimer J. Adler ; edited by Max Weismann.
Digital: data file
Imprint: Chicago, Ill. : Open Court, ©2000.
Physical description: 1 online resource (xxiv, 530 pages)

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Creators/Contributors

Author/Creator: Adler, Mortimer J. (Mortimer Jerome), 1902-2001 author.
Contributor: Weismann, Max, editor.

Contents/Summary

Contents

How to think about truth
How to think about opinion
The difference between knowledge and opinion
Opinion and human freedom
Opinion and majority rule
How to think about man
How different are humans?
The Darwinian theory of human origin
The answer to Darwin
The uniqueness of man
How to think about emotion
How to think about love
Love as friendship: a world without sex
Sexual love
The morality of love
How to think about good and evil
How to think about beauty
How to think about freedom
How to think about learning
Youth is a barrier to learning
How to read a book
How to talk
How to watch TV
How to think about art
The kinds of art
The fine arts
The goodness of art
How to think about justice
How to think about punishment
How to think about language
How to think about work
Work, play, and leisure
The dignity of all kinds of work
Work and leisure then and now
Work, leisure and liberal education
How to think about law
The kinds of law
The making of law
The justice of law
How to think about government
The nature of government
The powers of government
The best form of government
How to think about democracy
How to think about change
How to think about progress
How to think about war and peace
How to think about philosophy
How philosophy differs from science and religion
Unsolved problems of philosophy
How can philosophy progress
How to think about God.

Publisher's summary

Philosophy of everybody's business. As human beings, we all have the ability, and even the proclivity, to philosophize. We all engage in philosphical thought in the course of our daily live. What is philosophy? Why is it important? The importance of philosophy can be summed up in two words: Great Ideas. Great Ideas are the ideas that have been captured and developed in what are often called the Great Books of Western Civilization. They are common concepts that are a part of everyone's vocabulary and ordinary conversation and important, basic ideas that we think about throughout our lives - as children, adolescents and adults. What does it mean to be Good? How do we decide the Right thing to do? What is Love? The same question may appear to have different answers; the journey through the conflicting answers to a resolution is called philosophy. The Great Ideas are Art, Beauty, Change, Democracy, Emotion, Freedom, God, Good and Evil, Government, Justice, Labour, Language, Law, Learning, Love, Man, Opinion, Philosophy, Progress, Punishment, Truth, and War and Peace. Although everyone has a basic grasp of these Great Ideas, not everyone understands them as well as he or she could or should. In "How to Think About the Great Ideas", renowned philosopher Mortimer J. Adler guides readers to an understanding of these fundamental ideas and their practical applications to our daily lives. Not only does he clarify what the Great Ideas are, he helps readers understand the immediate role/application and importance of these ideas in our lives. These essays are based on the famous television lecture series by Mortimer Adler.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Subjects

Subjects: Great books of the Western world.; Philosophy.; LITERARY COLLECTIONS > American > General.

Bibliographic information

Publication date: 2000
Access: Use copy Restrictions unspecified
Reproduction: Electronic reproduction. [Place of publication not identified] : HathiTrust Digital Library, 2011.
Format: Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212
Action note: digitized 2011 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve; digitized 2011 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve; digitized 2011 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve
ISBN: 9780812696936 (electronic bk.); 081269693X (electronic bk.); 0812694120; 9780812694123

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from the great books of Western civilization in SearchWorks catalog (2024)

FAQs

How many books are in the Great Books of the Western World? ›

Great Books of the Western World is a series of books originally published in the United States in 1952, by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., to present the great books in 54 volumes.

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What are the great works of Western civilization? ›

The Great Books of the Western World

Homer. Iliad. Odyssey.
Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes. Aeschylus. Plays. ...
Herodotus, Thucydides. Herodotus. History. ...
Plato. Dialogues. Seventh Letter.
Aristotle (I) Works.
Aristotle (II) Works (continued)
Hippocrates, Galen. Hippocrates. ...
Euclid, Archimedes, Nicomachus. Euclid.

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What is the greatness of Western civilization? ›

The West has contributed a great many technological, political, philosophical, artistic and religious aspects to modern international culture: having been a crucible of Catholicism, Protestantism, democracy, industrialisation; the first major civilisation to seek to abolish slavery during the 19th century, the first to ...

How to understand western civilization? ›

Western civilization refers to the art, literature, culture, and enduring ideas that emerged from the eastern Mediterranean basin in the centuries before the common era, that developed in myriad forms through the Middle Ages, and that ultimately took modern shape after the Renaissance.

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How many books exist total? ›

The organization estimates that 2.2 million new titles are published every year, so if we add that number to Google's count, we can surmise that there are roughly 158,464,880 unique books in the world as of 2023.

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Why is it called great books? ›

Why are they called Great Books? These particular books are called “The Great Books”, not because of the subjective decision or opinion of an individual or group; rather, they are called Great because they collectively make up the rich intellectual, cultural, spiritual framework of our Western Civilization.

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What is taught in Western civilization? ›

Today, the Western civilization definition is widely understood as the study of the history and influences that contribute to modern Western thought, values, economic and political systems, and religious and spiritual beliefs.

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Why is it called Western civilization? ›

Anthropologically, the term "Western" refers to the classical era culture that arose in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, and later spread to different parts of the world.

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What is the idea of God in Western civilization? ›

We have been exploring some of the basic features making up the idea of God that have been central in the western religious tradition. According to this idea, God is a supremely good being, creator of but separate from and independent of the world, omnipotent, omniscient, eternal, and self-existent.

What are the great ideas of Western civilization? ›

The Great Ideas are Art, Beauty, Change, Democracy, Emotion, Freedom, God, Good and Evil, Government, Justice, Labour, Language, Law, Learning, Love, Man, Opinion, Philosophy, Progress, Punishment, Truth, and War and Peace.

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What is the greatest achievement of Western civilization? ›

Here's to the brilliant men and women of history who crafted the greatest civilization the earth has ever known.

1 Christianity.
2 The Factory Production Line. ...
3 Aeronautics: To the Moon and Beyond. ...
4 Circumnavigation. ...
5 The Printing Press and Mass Literacy. ...
6 Scholasticism & Scientific Method. ...
7 Ancient Classical Literature. ...

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Jun 3, 2020

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What are the three pillars of Western civilization? ›

Important to our understanding of Western civilization are three key pillars that make it distinctive in the world: the Judeo-Christian tradition, democracy and rationality.

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What is the most important characteristic of Western civilization? ›

the emphasis on individualism is one of the most important characteristics of Western Civilization. This concept has evolved and changed over time, from ancient Greece to the modern era, and has had a profound impact on Western political, economic, social, and cultural institutions.

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How many books are in the Western Bible? ›

Those established the Catholic biblical canon consisting of 46 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament for a total of 73 books.

Who has read 1,000 books? ›

Through the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program, Haleema Arana got the idea to start counting the number of books Daliyah read. She was about 3 years old at the time, and had likely already read about 1,000 books with the help of her mother.

Which library has the most books in the world? ›

The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world with millions of items a variety of formats.

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How many books did the great Bible have? ›

The Bible is composed of two major sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is made up of 39 individual books; the New Testament is made up of 27 books, giving the Bible a total of 66 books.