Online Great Books Podcast

Scott says it all the time -- if you can start your own Great Books group at home, do it! There's nothing that can truly replace the camaraderie, the deep shared intellectual experiences, and the accountability of an in-person group. Several years ago Scott started his own Great Books group in the tradition set forth my Mortimer Adler in his foundational How to Read a Book. The group is still going strong, and one of its members, Thad Hensley, joins today's show to discuss his experience with the group.

Having trouble starting your own group? Online Great Books is opening enrollment on July 8th, 2019. Podcast listeners can save 25% off enrollment by using the discount OGBPODCAST at Online Great Books!

This week, Scott and Karl discuss Dorthy Sayers’ paper, "The Lost Tools of Learning." This groundbreaking work is a great deal important to our mission here at Online Great Books, and for anyone else who wants a redo on their education.

What did Sayers notice was lost back in 1947? Why does it matter that we have lost the tools of learning?

In this episode, the guys talk about the all-encompassing ideas behind the Trivium, the downfalls of specialization, and the purpose of school.

In school, you learn math and biology, but do you learn how to learn?

For Sayers, the materials you use in order to teach how to learn doesn’t matter, only the process. “The sole true end of education,” says Sayers, “is to teach men how to learn for themselves; and whatever instruction fails to do this is effort spent in vain.”

Tune in to this week’s episode and find out how your schooling may have failed you and how to recover your own tools of learning.

Scott Hambrick and Karl Schudt discuss Friedrich Nietzsche's book The Joyful Wisdom, Book 3, which contains his infamous proclamation "God is dead." Nietzsche is perhaps best known for his writings about nihilism, the rejection of God and moral principles, or of any notion of meaning in life. From the nihilist's perspective, nothing in the world is real; it's merely a representation of the real, a concept that hearkens back to Plato's Allegory of the Cave.

Despite his systematic dismantling of God, religion, and the traditional moral codes of the West, Nietzsche was not an advocate for nihilism but rather viewed it as modern man's essential challenge: to overcome the sense of despair and meaninglessness.

Use the discount OGBPODCAST to save 25% on enrollment at Online Great Books!

Scott Hambrick and Online Great Books member Miles Marco Bennett -- in fact the very first member to join OGB -- discuss Michel de Montaigne's insightful, tongue-in-cheek, and occasionally droll essay Of Cannibals. Montaigne's essay, which appears in a larger collected work of his essays written in the 16th century, describes the author's experience with the native Tupi peoples of Brazil, a vibrant warrior culture that practiced ceremonial cannibalism of their enemies.

Montaigne draws comparisons between these strong, swarthy people and the barbarians of medieval Europe, praising their "natural" way of life and value system which prized strength and valor. He also notes how their loose governance -- led by people with the most strength and force of ams -- emerged naturally from their values and habits, as opposed to the contrived government and value systems proposed in Plato's Republic.

In this way Montaigne rebuts traditional Western philosophy and impugns its figureheads, showing disdain for philosophers who "know better" and would see their way of life imposed on society by an organized government. Montaigne is, in a sense, the people's philosopher, and shows a deference to the common man which is both charming, genuine, and more intellectually honest than most colonial accounts of the "noble savages."

Use the discount OGBPODCAST to save 25% on enrollment at Online Great Books.

In 1580, Michel De Montaigne is asked by the pregnant Madame Diane de Foix on what the best way of educating a child is. In his essay "Of the Education of Children," Montaigne provides her with a glimpse into his own upbringing, advising her on how children should apply their education to their own life.

Karl warns, “I don’t think you should let anyone read this because they will become dissatisfied with the current state of education.”

There’s nothing that will squash curiosity and a love of learning more than compulsion and force. Can Montaigne's mode of education even be done in a modern classroom?

If you are struggling with how to school your children at home, Karl has some advice for you. "Keep the screens turned off, have good things in the house, and eventually they will learn stuff out of boredom."

Tune in for more advice from Montaigne, Scott, and Karl on the proper means of educating your children.