It teaches you to be a better thinker and being a better thinker is more important then raw knowledge. I don't care how many fact you can remember if you have no clue how to apply then in a practical way in the real world
@@ericanderson7346 Yes, lets bring in every Tom Dick and Harry from all over the world who wants a free house and a free pass here on our expense. It's the civilized thing to do. We' ll be bankrupt in one generation.
Education system has nothing to do with intelligence! If anything it makes people stupid and gives them a false sense of security! Standardized testing is a joke just like the education system is! It's completely biased and inaccurate. Intelligence is genetic and no matter how much people study your intelligence will never change! Most people just parrot information that's a huge problem. Because you need to understand information not parrot it! Most people with degrees are parrots with zero problem solving skills? So if that's what you want to be then go to college!
Mentioned in the video: 5th Century B.C. The Theban Plays (Oedipus Rex) - Sophocles 4th Century B.C. Dialogues of Socrates 380 B.C. Republic - Plato 350 B.C. Nicomachean Ethics - Aristotle 426. City of God - St. Augustine of Hippo 1274. Summa Theologica - St. Thomas Aquinas 1315. The Divine Comedy (Inferno) - Dante 1606. King Lear - Shakespeare 1651. Leviathan - Thomas Hobbes 1667. Paradise Lost - John Milton 1798. An Essay On The Principle Of Population - Thomas Malthus 1869. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy 1813. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen and Emily Dickinson.
***** To this list, I would definitely add Euripides to balance out Sophocles as the latter traded in idealism while the former was a master of naturalism.
@Universalis Ted lol. No they're not. Either way, if you're going the classical education route you're not necessarily reading these books for entertainment value, you're reading them to learn from them.
I have no education, I’m a high school drop out. Yet I continue to study epistemology and now interested in the trivium. I hope this thirst is not in vain.
You're possibly a self-made millionaire, while all college "lecturers" are pussies & losers who hide in there & behind their man-made paper trails because they can't hack it in the real world.
Although, falling into line with canonical readings is not exactly a way of developing one’s own intellectual or aesthetical originality either. A commitment to the Great Books is something of a stultifying task, producing exquisitely cultured and predictable people who see much to admire in each other. In short, those who look to tradition will be comforted by it. That’s what it’s there for! Jeffery Brenzel knows this, and hints at the issue at 11:15. And who’s to say there’s not plenty to enjoy?
@@jamesfrancese6091 what books, would you say, step out of line of „predictability“? I would argue that most, if not all books have the classics as the cornerstone, and, unless you don’t read at all, it becomes difficult to walk another path…
Glad to learn that you are working through the 'Great Books of Western Civilization". I would also recommend the nine paperback volumes of "A History of Philosphy" by Frederick Copleston. Absolutely amazing as you work through the philosophers represented in the GBWC.
@@maxdominate2481 will you recommend Will Durant?? I have enjoyed reading, but I want to have a greater and wider understanding. Thank you for the recommendation.
So glad I found this on minds and best teacher I've seen in a very long time. His influence on me is instead of being depressed everyday for watching press on TV will get uplifting by reading those books. Even at age 55, still can learn and improve my train of thought.
One of my life goals is to study all of this in detail. I may never be able to afford to enroll in a college or university for a degree in Classics, but I'm at least going to get all the use I can out of my libraries and book stores! ❤
A great resource is the Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Make sure to get your information from professional and credited sources. There are so many confusing and flat out wrong hot takes.
I'm currently 31 years old and having a hard time to choose what I want to do with myself for the next 40+ years (hopefully), while there's some people that have already found their passion and have all their college education on their area, there're people like me who are still looking for their spark. Watching this, I have renew hope. I find it very insightful and inspirational. Time to read some books and stop wrestling with weaklings. The view! Thanks!
...and now I've read The Republic. Might just have saved my ability to critical thinking. I read on some website, that Jeffrey Benzel is a huge fan of "How to read a book" by Mortimer Adler. I bought it and i can recommend it as a trustworthy companion to the intellectual journey :) I would argue though, that it is useful to be selective in the use of Mortimer Adlers techniques. Time is finite, after all :) With regards to The Republic, i found Allan Bloom's literal translation (the one including an interpretative essay) to be brilliant. Focused, contemporary and readable. Thank you, Jeffrey Brenzel, for convincing me to read the classics.
I guess I suffer the same as many of us, who fail to find great authors because they write in another culture. London England here. Never heard of Mortimer Adler before viewing this. Will I have to read that book before I read that book?
@@fated8 As a lifelong reader I found invaluable a book entitled 'Elements of Style" co-authors Strunk and White. It's about writing well and has been most useful to me. It was written a good few decades ago and is as relevant today as it's ever been.
Yada yada yada. Proles As myself should be warned ,since we are Cannon fodder , did the wealthy go to battle looking into a rearview mirror? The rich in western countries begrudge even the taxes required to pay for it. Memory of this still exists decades after. But eat well as you can. All do die .birth,life,death ; that's all a good life is.
Someone giving a lecture was once asked, "Why does a dog love to stick his head out of the window of a moving car where he's hit by bugs and debris that get in his eyes and on his tongue? Why does he wag his tail the entire time and can't wait to do this again?" The answer was simple: "Because it's worth it." I just loved that.
It's 2024. Thank you. This was fantastic. I have wanted to read the classics but didn't know where to start. Your lecture was an essential first step toward my goal. Thank you.
Very absorbing talk. I have been actually following these ideas for over 50 years. I do not read newspapers, or watch TV or go to movies. I have not read a new novel in the last 40 years. I have found that the old true Classics make us better, wiser. As a student of Indian thought and philosophy, I find in Socrates and Plato kindred spirits. A true Classical work addresses universal human issues, there is neither East nor West. Socrates dealt with philosophy as a way of life, not a mere system of abstract thought. He lived his philosophy. This accords well with our own philosophy. Reading a classic has a therapeutic effect- it heals us in unseen ways. This is a matter of personal experience. I am happy about and thankful for this talk.
Sadly we all need some basic level of attainment regarding experience, that precludes children being seen as suitable recipients of this knowledge. But if their teacher has seen the philosophical light then the kids are in good hands.
Totally agree. I feel cheated, to be honest. I don't know how I am the same human being now at age 45, that I was when I was 16 or 17. But I still have time hopefully, and I'm going to choose one of the classics mentioned here, and order it. A lot of the blame lies with me, but I also feel that our schools also play a big role in not explaining these things the way the host of this video does. Maybe if they had explained it this way, I would have been more willing to read them. Better late than never, I guess.
It’s hard in high school, I’ll be honest. It’s just something that comes with age, honestly. One thing leads to the next and you want to read all of the great works somewhere starting in your 20’s
Every College student and 99% of those over 40 should watch this - we live in trivial culture in a distracted age. As if there is not enough choice - there is also an incredible list of translated Indo-Tibetan and Sino-Japanese texts now available.
It truly is an amazing but peculiar time to be alive. Never have we had more access to the heights of human aspirations, never have we had as many paths to be led astray on.
Such a well stated, compelling argument! And true! I took a year long survey course at university called Classic Literature, from ancient Greece to modern times. Everything Brenzel states is spot on. In spades. It was truly a profound experience in so many ways, so many lessons, insights and takeaways that informed and strengthened my hand. Takeaways which I referenced throughout my life. It's nothing short of tragic that universities have been, for some time, gutting liberal arts studies in favor of STEM to the effect of essentially turning universities into sites for vocational training.
Kids, if you're seeing this and want to go to college (or if you're interested in doing graduate work on these books), check out the curriculum at St. John's College. They're still doing education the old-school way.
Good point. SJC's curriculum was changed ca early 1950's and based on the U of Chicago's Great Books. It's often called the Great Books school with a hands-on approach to learning the great ideas of the "Western world" and now "Eastern" studies have been added. -Class of '90 SF
Here are some other literary works that could be added to this list: The Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2000 B.C.), an ancient Mesopotamian poem that is considered to be one of the earliest surviving works of literature. The Bhagavad Gita (c. 400-200 B.C.), a Hindu religious text that is an important part of Indian literature. The Book of Psalms (c. 1000-400 B.C.), a collection of religious poems from the Hebrew Bible. The Canterbury Tales (c. 1387), a collection of stories by the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. Don Quixote (1605-1615), a novel by the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes that is considered to be one of the greatest works of fiction ever written. Moby-Dick (1851), a novel by the American author Herman Melville that is widely regarded as one of the greatest American novels. Ulysses (1922), a novel by the Irish author James Joyce that is considered to be one of the most important works of modernist literature. One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), a novel by the Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez that is widely regarded as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. These works were chosen because they are considered to be classics of literature, and they are widely regarded as being important, influential, and enduring works of art. They are also notable for their literary achievements, and many of them are considered to be masterpieces of their respective genres.
The Apology, Crito, Meno, Symposium, Republic, Nicomacean Ethics, Antigone, Odeipus Rex, The Illiad, Genesis, Exodus, The Inferno, Confessions, City of God, Arabian Nights, The Epic of Gilgamesh, Leviathan, Les Miserables, War and Peace, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, The Borthers Karmazkov, Anarchy, State and Utopia, The Glass Bead Game, The Stranger, Ulysses and everything else I cannot think of that is amazing
Thank you! Your sane attitude and well organized information are more than ever of value now in 2021, 9+ years after your talk. I told a granddaughter that this is 2 years of college in 57 minutes...if only we will do the reading...
"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." - T. S. Eliot In other words, the journey will prepare you to appreciate the destination. “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one” - Bruce Lee
I went to Hillsdale College. They have a rigorous Great Books program. It was a great educational experience overall. They have a lot of courses available online for free.
Writing down references... everything changes when someone takes the time to even explain the chronology of thought and great thinkers/writers/philosophers. Thank you, Jeffrey.
Thanks, Mr. Brenzel. Amazing lecture on the Classics. I started to get interested in classic education by myself after tumbling with Dante on a library and now I am discovering a new world by reading classic poetry and philosophy. The arguments and book tips in this video are really great.
The best decision I have ever made in my life was reading the 7 novels written by Jane Austen. Never have I understood myself as a young woman so well, I wish I could relive the first time I’ve read each one of those novels
I remember reading Thomas Paine's 'The Age of Reason' and being absolutely capitivated by it. Not so much for the arguments he was making but because of the language of the day and the sense that I was reading the words off the page as he wrote them. It was like someone in the 1700s was talking directly into my head through a wormhole.
You’re a wonderful presenter. Wish I was a Yale student with you as my professor. Im a Disney Artist, always looking for inspiration while I paint, and this is so well done. Thank you
I was inspired until I read the comments section; now I just feel despair. Thanks Prof. for the motivating lecture! Especially the points on theology...
This was very inspirational! All of the academic reading I've had to do for classes had dried up my interest in reading. However, this reminded me of why I used to love to read the classics.
I think it is essential to include Homer’s “The Odyssey” and “The Iliad” on any list of essential reads. Few books have been more influential and it is impossible not to run into allusions to these books in many of the works that followed.
I read both in 7th grade, immensely enjoyed them and knew that they were importantly different than Shakespeare and Silas Marner because they presented life as good and heroic. But the teacher was as dumb as a doorknob, with no wide perspective on art and life. We were required to memorize isolated facts with no organizing principles. Years later I read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead and The Romantic Manifesto, her philosophy of art. My 7th grade self was right.
@@TeaParty1776 know if you read it anything and ran row and you thought that you were right when you were smarter than an adult before you hit puberty then you never actually learned how to be an intellectual you're still an idiot with confirmation bias
@@leeroberts4850 You evade judging my idea as true or false. Look out at reality, not inward. Focus your mind. The passive mind is the Devil's playground.
This lesson made me so much more motivated to seek for knowledge. I am a bit stuck in life these days. I have free time and a whole new world to explore but I am not using it properly as I wanted when I was busy, rushing to delivery work on time, rushing to not disappoint my boss and do not get fired. PS I left my job 3 years ago to go in endless voyage around the world in a seek for knowledge and adventure.
Agreed, I'm a programmer and also enjoy astrophysics and similar branches of science, pushing forward doesn't necessitate a disregard for the past, in fact a good understanding of the past makes imagining the future both more accurate and more fun.
I appreciated my "ways of knowing" philosophy course, but while reading some of the works-I became so anxious and a bit confused... Although the professor is great at explaining much of the elements-you really helped me to comprehend it all even more. Thank you-from the Bronx!
The Great Books list is in the last chapter of Adler's HOW TO READ A BOOK. At age 40 I found this book and list, and read my way forward through history, enjoying the Great Conversation between all those great minds. I know my place in time and the living river of humanity because of the great books.
The part where he says how you kind of have to be picky given the amount of ground possible to cover in a lifetime makes me thankful for channels like Wisecrack.
A wonderful presentation. At 27:38ff, Dr. Brenzel characterizes much Protestant construal of salvation and the end times as a product of Milton - this is happily untrue. Piecing together Scripture (Systematic Theology) bears a contrast to his presentation. Thomas assembled his picture of salvation and the afterlife more inline with Medieval rationalism than faithfulness to Scripture.
I read Dante's Inferno and Paradise Lost while at school and they taught me the value of viewing the world with a sceptical eye. I have those titans of philosophy: Dante and Milton, to thank for making up a a part of who I am today. I definitely plan to read the rest of this list throughout my life!
Classically educated, '60s rock singer, Marianne Faithfull, reads from Dante on, I believe, Blazing Away. An actress, too, she reads with profound meaning. "Midway thru life, I found myself lost in a wood."
This is the most informative video I have ever watched on TH-cam. Thank you Dr. Brenzel!!! I have taken notes from the entire presentation and will read some of these classics.
Exceptional “find” for me and my search into the classics. You encapsulated everything into your presentation to clear the trees so that I may ultimately see the forest! Thank you so much
42 minutes in before mentioning that there is much outside of the western canon.. not enough to mention it (Buddha, etc. ).. but... you're getting there Jeffrey. Keep learning.
Finding out what's worth reading is a difficult task, and a lot of the concepts hidden in the books mentioned are well worth taking with oneself. I could add a few thoughts about reading the classics, but I will make do with the most important one: Remember that not all those gifted with the mind are as gifted with the pen. Some geniuses are lousy writers. Case in point: I have yet to meet the man or woman who enjoyed reading Hobbes Leviathan, but once you read it and unpack Hobbes ideas you realize they are still relevant and intriguing. In other words: sometimes the reward of reading old classics doesn't lie in the literary prowess of the authors. Endure and often you will be rewarded.
+damillionmalania similarly, 20 variants of the quran in translation begs where to begin. but what a great project that would be! discuss the translation style with muslims of all stripes and get a year's learning out of it. as you said... buried treasure.
No, Thrasymachus doesn't "stalk off." He stays to hear the rest of the talk, and in fact insists later (in Book V, at 450a-b) with the others in the party that Socrates complete his promise to describe the Beautiful City he has been building in speech in response to Thrasymachus' definition of justice. Mr. Brenzel makes the unfortunately common mistake in assuming Thrasymachus leaves. Thrasymachus blushes when Socrates catches him out in a contradiction, and stays quiet for a while, but he's too interested in the discussion to simply leave.
Exactly so, as the representative of Tyranny and advocating justice as the advantage of the stronger, it seems it would be self-negating to just leave.
Great lecture! So happy I discovered this series from Big Think! Thank you Dr Brenzel for an enlightening affirmation of the incredibly valuable and often uplifting source of wisdom the Classics can be! This reminds me a bit of the ‘Great Courses’ series now available through Wi-Fi streaming services (for a modest subscription fee). Thank you Big Think as well for a great production!/
Part of why I burnt out on my first brush with college was the schooling from high school. We read a lot of the classics - The Canterbury Tales, Lord of the Rings, Brave New World, 1984, the Greek tragedies, etc. Yes, I got a neo-classical education in high school.
I rarely “thumbs up” any TH-cam videos. OMG! I loved this so much! 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼I honestly want to watch more content from this guy. Any more vids from him out there?
Listen Alan watts to get a sense of eastern thought like daoism, Buddhism and the like, but the metaphysics of these are found, implied in Plato, specifically Plato’s Parmenides-the latter half of
I like the video it's almost perfect. I have only one thing to add as comment - the professor doesn't mention the eastern christian theologians from late antiquity although their work is essential.
I would add classics from other cultures. The Prince by Machievelli and the Art of War by Sun Tzu are far more practical as operating philisophies than some of the books mentioned.
This video just played randomly but he is such a great speaker that I had to listen to it till end plus it’s so full of knowledge. Thank you so much for making this kind of videos that internet really needs.
A year ago i watched this video for the first time. Since then i've had some shaking existencional crysis (that isn't necessarily a bad thing). I thank Big Think for this video. Just one thing bothers me a bit watching it now: Crime & Punishment by Dostoiévski isn't on the list.
Kevin Gøhler He mentions it further on the video. If i'm not mistaken it's something like this: Oedipus Rex, The Republic, a book from Aristotle (can't recall the name), City of God, Summa Theologica, Dante's Inferno (The Divine Comedy), Paradise Lost, King Lear, War and Peace (though i'd put Crime and Punishment here as well).
Essential watching. Reading the classics only after you've watched and studied all of the Kardashian TV shows. It's essential you get those fundamentals down first before tackling the less important classics.
You answered the question with an *ontology.* All questions can be addressed well with an ontology. This is one of the universal concepts of Aristotle. Makes life better to be able to start to answer any question at all properly. Thanks for a fantastic video.
I'll never understand people who have "private libraries". After I finish every book I've purchased, I donate it to my library. Then, if I want to read it again, I know it is available there. Of course in the meantime, others may read the book. Sharing is better than hoarding. Maybe I learned that from a book. Good topic though, I highly recommend PBS's great courses. As someone who couldn't afford to pay for university past my BA, they have kept my mind engaged.
I really loved this lecture, especially the part talking about the five values of reading classic works, as well as the discussion of the five attributes that define what a classic work is. It really does help to elucidate the inherent importance of works that are considered classics. This lecture will go a long way towards encouraging me to seek classic works and to read them.
Speaking of women in philosophy: "Hypatia, often called Hypatia of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher in Egypt, then a part of the Byzantine Empire. She was the head of the Neoplatonic school at Alexandria, where she taught philosophy and astronomy. " From Wikipedia. Why doesn't she deserves to be quoted? -. - Especially as an example of intellectually realised women before and until Christianity struck to the core of equality destroying it!
Why does this involve Christianity many women are still known for example Jane Austen or Laura ingalls wilder? They were alive during Christianity and are still known for what they did and are known by many people.
I don't think she wasn't quoted because she is undeserving. Admittedly, I don't know much about her. However, did she contribute some novel ideas to these subjects? Just searching on Wikipedia it states: "Hypatia has been described as a universal genius, but she was probably more of a teacher and commentator than an innovator. No evidence has been found that Hypatia ever published any independent works on philosophy and she does not appear to have made any groundbreaking mathematical discoveries." It would be difficult to recommend reading greats works of a person who didn't create any said works.
Your conceptualisation of Christianity is clearly very confused. It may be helpful if you were more specific. Are you referring to Roman Catholic Christianity? The irony here is that the Byzantine Empire was specifically Christian - indeed it was the principle it was founded on by Constantine.
+Steven Blancher That's because today a very small number of people the right to education and heavier because fewer people develop mental abilities. So sad for planet and future of humans
Here's the number one problem with a "classic" education as it is conceived of by most people in Europe and North America: It is astoundingly, staggeringly ethnocentric. I think reading some classics is great, but viewing them as the pinnacle of human knowledge is incredibly closed minded.
There are many works outside of the west which are included in the western canon: The Analects, Dao de jing, Upanishads, the poetry of Rumi, The Art of War, 1001 Nights, etc.
@@vodkatonyq "Many" looks like an incredible exaggeration to me. Look at the works mentioned in the video and in everyone's comments. Look at the curricula of colleges and universities. Please show me an example of a "classics" or "great books" program in Europe or North America that includes "many" non-western works. I'd love to see it.
Amazing from start to finish! Refreshing after spending too much time in the political comment sections. Thank you for reminding me about something that I had forgotten
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It teaches you to be a better thinker and being a better thinker is more important then raw knowledge. I don't care how many fact you can remember if you have no clue how to apply then in a practical way in the real world
The sound effects in these videos are lame, distracting, and annoying.
@@ericanderson7346 Yes, lets bring in every Tom Dick and Harry from all over the world who wants a free house and a free pass here on our expense. It's the civilized thing to do. We' ll be bankrupt in one generation.
BigThink editor, i hope you can add Indonesian subtitle
Education system has nothing to do with intelligence! If anything it makes people stupid and gives them a false sense of security! Standardized testing is a joke just like the education system is! It's completely biased and inaccurate. Intelligence is genetic and no matter how much people study your intelligence will never change! Most people just parrot information that's a huge problem. Because you need to understand information not parrot it! Most people with degrees are parrots with zero problem solving skills? So if that's what you want to be then go to college!
Mentioned in the video:
5th Century B.C. The Theban Plays (Oedipus Rex) - Sophocles
4th Century B.C. Dialogues of Socrates
380 B.C. Republic - Plato
350 B.C. Nicomachean Ethics - Aristotle
426. City of God - St. Augustine of Hippo
1274. Summa Theologica - St. Thomas Aquinas
1315. The Divine Comedy (Inferno) - Dante
1606. King Lear - Shakespeare
1651. Leviathan - Thomas Hobbes
1667. Paradise Lost - John Milton
1798. An Essay On The Principle Of Population - Thomas Malthus
1869. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
1813. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
and Emily Dickinson.
***** To this list, I would definitely add Euripides to balance out Sophocles as the latter traded in idealism while the former was a master of naturalism.
LowryderKid I would add Marcus Aurelius, Machiavelli and Clausewitz.
Bible. Dostoyevsky. It's all subjective.
@LokiRudder How so? Everyone's list is different. The epitome of subjectivity.
@Universalis Ted lol. No they're not. Either way, if you're going the classical education route you're not necessarily reading these books for entertainment value, you're reading them to learn from them.
Engaged from start to finish, excellent speaker.
I totally agree, it led me to r/ClassicalEducation to start my own reading plan!
I agree
I watched the whole thing too. So fucking lame.
what an amazing speaker, I am totally inspired by this guy.
Agreeeed
"You don't build muscles by wrestling weaklings"
You don't build mental muscle by arguing with random people on social media either. ;-)
Brown Wolf so true
Yes you do. Your mum is fat. 😛
But,
@@benmathewson1826 got em!
To assume everyone you're debating with is beneath you is a great way to stunt your own growth.
I have no education, I’m a high school drop out. Yet I continue to study epistemology and now interested in the trivium. I hope this thirst is not in vain.
Hey...how are you studying trivium? Please give some insight.
Hi Elias. Admit it, your thirst for knowledge is almost *certainly* "in vain", but this is no reason at all to stop.
Of course it isn't. Life enrichment can't be quantified, it can be felt through experience
Knowledge is never a waste. Read on!
You're possibly a self-made millionaire, while all college "lecturers" are pussies & losers who hide in there & behind their man-made paper trails because they can't hack it in the real world.
The more time you spend reading great works, the more discerning you will be about what else you want to read. You will come to expect quality.
r/classicaleducation
Although, falling into line with canonical readings is not exactly a way of developing one’s own intellectual or aesthetical originality either. A commitment to the Great Books is something of a stultifying task, producing exquisitely cultured and predictable people who see much to admire in each other. In short, those who look to tradition will be comforted by it. That’s what it’s there for! Jeffery Brenzel knows this, and hints at the issue at 11:15. And who’s to say there’s not plenty to enjoy?
@@jamesfrancese6091 what books, would you say, step out of line of „predictability“? I would argue that most, if not all books have the classics as the cornerstone, and, unless you don’t read at all, it becomes difficult to walk another path…
@@jamesfrancese6091, It's crazy how stupid you are
@@khadimndiaye7730, He is probably the kind of guy who read only self-help books
I wish I were 18 again and could start over with a classical education. Well, I can stsrt over at my age, too.
Clemdane Of course you can :)
Buy and read 'The Great Books of Western Civilization' and you'll have what you seek.
It's what I am doing, and I am having a lovely time discovering new things, while stretching my mind. My grandchildren are also benefitting from this.
Glad to learn that you are working through the 'Great Books of Western Civilization".
I would also recommend the nine paperback volumes of "A History of Philosphy" by Frederick Copleston. Absolutely amazing as you work through the philosophers represented in the GBWC.
@@maxdominate2481 will you recommend Will Durant?? I have enjoyed reading, but I want to have a greater and wider understanding. Thank you for the recommendation.
So glad I found this on minds and best teacher I've seen in a very long time. His influence on me is instead of being depressed everyday for watching press on TV will get uplifting by reading those books. Even at age 55, still can learn and improve my train of thought.
So your 59 now buddy. How goes the train these days?
One of my life goals is to study all of this in detail. I may never be able to afford to enroll in a college or university for a degree in Classics, but I'm at least going to get all the use I can out of my libraries and book stores! ❤
Good luck on your journey
You’re a amazing.. you can do anything you put your mind to! I wish you the best !!! ❤️
@@misha4626 Thank you so much! That means a lot to me! I'm giving it all I've got! 🙏 ❤️
Don't waste your time listening to these guys. Just read the books. And LIVE
A great resource is the Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Make sure to get your information from professional and credited sources. There are so many confusing and flat out wrong hot takes.
I'm currently 31 years old and having a hard time to choose what I want to do with myself for the next 40+ years (hopefully), while there's some people that have already found their passion and have all their college education on their area, there're people like me who are still looking for their spark. Watching this, I have renew hope. I find it very insightful and inspirational. Time to read some books and stop wrestling with weaklings. The view! Thanks!
"Learn as though you'll live tomorrow, but live as though you'll die forever"
Have you tried focusing on what you're good at?
don't worry about the next 40 years.. worry about your relationship with Christ
@@apricotcomputers3943 Good grief. Would Christ want anyone to worry about him?
@@liammurphy2725 no, he's the lord of lord, king of kings
Brilliant!!! I’m discovering literature for the first time at 67 years old. This is gold.
...and now I've read The Republic. Might just have saved my ability to critical thinking. I read on some website, that Jeffrey Benzel is a huge fan of "How to read a book" by Mortimer Adler. I bought it and i can recommend it as a trustworthy companion to the intellectual journey :)
I would argue though, that it is useful to be selective in the use of Mortimer Adlers techniques. Time is finite, after all :)
With regards to The Republic, i found Allan Bloom's literal translation (the one including an interpretative essay) to be brilliant. Focused, contemporary and readable.
Thank you, Jeffrey Brenzel, for convincing me to read the classics.
Just now reading Karen Swallow Prior's On Reading Well. I'm guessing if you haven't read it you likely would.
@John Steven I’m sorry you’re having a hard time keeping up
I guess I suffer the same as many of us, who fail to find great authors because they write in another culture. London England here. Never heard of Mortimer Adler before viewing this. Will I have to read that book before I read that book?
@@fated8 As a lifelong reader I found invaluable a book entitled 'Elements of Style" co-authors Strunk and White. It's about writing well and has been most useful to me. It was written a good few decades ago and is as relevant today as it's ever been.
Yada yada yada. Proles
As myself should be warned ,since we are Cannon fodder , did the wealthy go to battle looking into a rearview mirror? The rich in western countries begrudge even the taxes required to pay for it. Memory of this still exists decades after. But eat well as you can. All do die .birth,life,death ; that's all a good life is.
Someone giving a lecture was once asked, "Why does a dog love to stick his head out of the window of a moving car where he's hit by bugs and debris that get in his eyes and on his tongue? Why does he wag his tail the entire time and can't wait to do this again?" The answer was simple: "Because it's worth it." I just loved that.
I love this man's style. He goes straight to the point and that's something I value a lot. Thank you a lot for sharing this content!
I agree with you 100%. Not a wasted or useless word anywhere. Brilliant and engaging speaker.
It's 2024. Thank you. This was fantastic. I have wanted to read the classics but didn't know where to start. Your lecture was an essential first step toward my goal. Thank you.
Very absorbing talk. I have been actually following these ideas for over 50 years. I do not read newspapers, or watch TV or go to movies. I have not read a new novel in the last 40 years. I have found that the old true Classics make us better, wiser. As a student of Indian thought and philosophy, I find in Socrates and Plato kindred spirits. A true Classical work addresses universal human issues, there is neither East nor West. Socrates dealt with philosophy as a way of life, not a mere system of abstract thought. He lived his philosophy. This accords well with our own philosophy.
Reading a classic has a therapeutic effect- it heals us in unseen ways. This is a matter of personal experience.
I am happy about and thankful for this talk.
If only this stuff was presented this way from the beginning, I may have actually read all those books in high school.
Sadly we all need some basic level of attainment regarding experience, that precludes children being seen as suitable recipients of this knowledge. But if their teacher has seen the philosophical light then the kids are in good hands.
It's not too late!
Totally agree. I feel cheated, to be honest. I don't know how I am the same human being now at age 45, that I was when I was 16 or 17. But I still have time hopefully, and I'm going to choose one of the classics mentioned here, and order it. A lot of the blame lies with me, but I also feel that our schools also play a big role in not explaining these things the way the host of this video does. Maybe if they had explained it this way, I would have been more willing to read them. Better late than never, I guess.
It’s hard in high school, I’ll be honest. It’s just something that comes with age, honestly. One thing leads to the next and you want to read all of the great works somewhere starting in your 20’s
Stop looking for excuses😅
Every College student and 99% of those over 40 should watch this - we live in trivial culture in a distracted age. As if there is not enough choice - there is also an incredible list of translated Indo-Tibetan and Sino-Japanese texts now available.
It truly is an amazing but peculiar time to be alive. Never have we had more access to the heights of human aspirations, never have we had as many paths to be led astray on.
@@TheSpecialJ11 Follow the Stoics.
Such a well stated, compelling argument! And true! I took a year long survey course at university called Classic Literature, from ancient Greece to modern times. Everything Brenzel states is spot on. In spades. It was truly a profound experience in so many ways, so many lessons, insights and takeaways that informed and strengthened my hand. Takeaways which I referenced throughout my life. It's nothing short of tragic that universities have been, for some time, gutting liberal arts studies in favor of STEM to the effect of essentially turning universities into sites for vocational training.
Kids, if you're seeing this and want to go to college (or if you're interested in doing graduate work on these books), check out the curriculum at St. John's College. They're still doing education the old-school way.
Could that be because they're an old-school?
Or Hillsdale
Good point. SJC's curriculum was changed ca early 1950's and based on the U of Chicago's Great Books. It's often called the Great Books school with a hands-on approach to learning the great ideas of the "Western world" and now "Eastern" studies have been added. -Class of '90 SF
Depends on what year you went there, curriculum changes year over year now, let alone over decades!
Here are some other literary works that could be added to this list:
The Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2000 B.C.), an ancient Mesopotamian poem that is considered to be one of the earliest surviving works of literature.
The Bhagavad Gita (c. 400-200 B.C.), a Hindu religious text that is an important part of Indian literature.
The Book of Psalms (c. 1000-400 B.C.), a collection of religious poems from the Hebrew Bible.
The Canterbury Tales (c. 1387), a collection of stories by the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer.
Don Quixote (1605-1615), a novel by the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes that is considered to be one of the greatest works of fiction ever written.
Moby-Dick (1851), a novel by the American author Herman Melville that is widely regarded as one of the greatest American novels.
Ulysses (1922), a novel by the Irish author James Joyce that is considered to be one of the most important works of modernist literature.
One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), a novel by the Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez that is widely regarded as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century.
These works were chosen because they are considered to be classics of literature, and they are widely regarded as being important, influential, and enduring works of art. They are also notable for their literary achievements, and many of them are considered to be masterpieces of their respective genres.
It’s a good thing you mentioned these obscure works. People tend to overlook them.
@@andrewdorie4010 Haha sarcasm noted.
The Apology, Crito, Meno, Symposium, Republic, Nicomacean Ethics, Antigone, Odeipus Rex, The Illiad, Genesis, Exodus, The Inferno, Confessions, City of God, Arabian Nights, The Epic of Gilgamesh, Leviathan, Les Miserables, War and Peace, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, The Borthers Karmazkov, Anarchy, State and Utopia, The Glass Bead Game, The Stranger, Ulysses and everything else I cannot think of that is amazing
Outstanding presentation. Thank you from a 74 years old. I have been reading them (all 54) for over 50 years.
Thank you! Your sane attitude and well organized information are more than ever of value now in 2021, 9+ years after your talk. I told a granddaughter that this is 2 years of college in 57 minutes...if only we will do the reading...
"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." - T. S. Eliot
In other words, the journey will prepare you to appreciate the destination.
“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one” - Bruce Lee
I went to Hillsdale College. They have a rigorous Great Books program. It was a great educational experience overall. They have a lot of courses available online for free.
Writing down references... everything changes when someone takes the time to even explain the chronology of thought and great thinkers/writers/philosophers. Thank you, Jeffrey.
Thanks, Mr. Brenzel. Amazing lecture on the Classics. I started to get interested in classic education by myself after tumbling with Dante on a library and now I am discovering a new world by reading classic poetry and philosophy. The arguments and book tips in this video are really great.
Answering specific burning question I've had for years in a comprehensive format. Good man
The best decision I have ever made in my life was reading the 7 novels written by Jane Austen. Never have I understood myself as a young woman so well, I wish I could relive the first time I’ve read each one of those novels
Well now I must read these 7 novels. I do hope also to understand myself as a young woman as a man.
I remember reading Thomas Paine's 'The Age of Reason' and being absolutely capitivated by it. Not so much for the arguments he was making but because of the language of the day and the sense that I was reading the words off the page as he wrote them. It was like someone in the 1700s was talking directly into my head through a wormhole.
The rights of man did the same for me.
Most of the books you'll need to follow Mr. Brenzel's advise have been collected for you already:
'The Great Books of Western Civilization'
I didn't know Greece was in the West.
You’re a wonderful presenter. Wish I was a Yale student with you as my professor. Im a Disney Artist, always looking for inspiration while I paint, and this is so well done. Thank you
I was inspired until I read the comments section; now I just feel despair. Thanks Prof. for the motivating lecture! Especially the points on theology...
So glad I came across this video.
This was very inspirational! All of the academic reading I've had to do for classes had dried up my interest in reading. However, this reminded me of why I used to love to read the classics.
Excellent very clear accent 😊👍
and speed , for non native speakers.
Thank you very very much Monsieur Brenzel ! God bless you for the respect...
I love how this video brought all its points together in the end
I think it is essential to include Homer’s “The Odyssey” and “The Iliad” on any list of essential reads. Few books have been more influential and it is impossible not to run into allusions to these books in many of the works that followed.
I read both in 7th grade, immensely enjoyed them and knew that they were importantly different than Shakespeare and Silas Marner because they presented life as good and heroic. But the teacher was as dumb as a doorknob, with no wide perspective on art and life. We were required to memorize isolated facts with no organizing principles. Years later I read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead and The Romantic Manifesto, her philosophy of art. My 7th grade self was right.
@@TeaParty1776 know if you read it anything and ran row and you thought that you were right when you were smarter than an adult before you hit puberty then you never actually learned how to be an intellectual you're still an idiot with confirmation bias
@@leeroberts4850 You evade judging my idea as true or false. Look out at reality, not inward. Focus your mind. The passive mind is the Devil's playground.
@@leeroberts4850 My ideas are factually true. Your ideas are...oh, wait, you have no ideas.
@@leeroberts4850 Thanks for confirming my bias.
This always pumps me up before I read a classic. Like the speech given at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields by Theoden, King of Rohan.
ok
You should do some reading and less posting.
it was a shitpost dude lol. Have you guys not read LOTR? Chill.
Everyone who responded negatively to this comment needs to get laid.
Arise, Arise, Readers of Théoden!
BTW, all the negative comments are just resentful hunts (H=C) who have never read TLOTR.
This is precisely why I've always worked to read and understand as many classics as I can.
This lesson made me so much more motivated to seek for knowledge. I am a bit stuck in life these days. I have free time and a whole new world to explore but I am not using it properly as I wanted when I was busy, rushing to delivery work on time, rushing to not disappoint my boss and do not get fired. PS I left my job 3 years ago to go in endless voyage around the world in a seek for knowledge and adventure.
I love the way the man speaks-many pauses and plenty of opportunities to take in his reason and logic.
this is Beautiful, well crafted , Genius and what we need, Thank You.
5 months since my first view of this most engaging presentation. Very happy to see this again. Thank you to Big Think and The TH-cam algorithm.
Agreed, I'm a programmer and also enjoy astrophysics and similar branches of science, pushing forward doesn't necessitate a disregard for the past, in fact a good understanding of the past makes imagining the future both more accurate and more fun.
This channel is just brilliant. To the people who came up with the idea, and put it all together, I thank you!!
I appreciated my "ways of knowing" philosophy course, but while reading some of the works-I became so anxious and a bit confused... Although the professor is great at explaining much of the elements-you really helped me to comprehend it all even more. Thank you-from the Bronx!
The Great Books list is in the last chapter of Adler's HOW TO READ A BOOK. At age 40 I found this book and list, and read my way forward through history, enjoying the Great Conversation between all those great minds. I know my place in time and the living river of humanity because of the great books.
Utterly awesome lecture... I would love to take a college class with Brenzel as my tutor!
Thank you.
I really enjoyed watching this great video on Classical Education. I have read some of those books.
Best TH-cam video I’ve seen in the last 5 years
These "old" books don't make you smarter, they make you more open-minded. How mich do we need them!
Good morning Dr Jeffrey great expect sunrise and leasten your speech .Never late to learn.
Thank you
The part where he says how you kind of have to be picky given the amount of ground possible to cover in a lifetime makes me thankful for channels like Wisecrack.
Thug Notes all the way!
A wonderful presentation. At 27:38ff, Dr. Brenzel characterizes much Protestant construal of salvation and the end times as a product of Milton - this is happily untrue. Piecing together Scripture (Systematic Theology) bears a contrast to his presentation. Thomas assembled his picture of salvation and the afterlife more inline with Medieval rationalism than faithfulness to Scripture.
I read Dante's Inferno and Paradise Lost while at school and they taught me the value of viewing the world with a sceptical eye. I have those titans of philosophy: Dante and Milton, to thank for making up a a part of who I am today. I definitely plan to read the rest of this list throughout my life!
Classically educated, '60s rock singer, Marianne Faithfull, reads from Dante on, I believe, Blazing Away. An actress, too, she reads with profound meaning. "Midway thru life, I found myself lost in a wood."
This is the most informative video I have ever watched on TH-cam. Thank you Dr. Brenzel!!! I have taken notes from the entire presentation and will read some of these classics.
As much as there is some things I disagree with, that was a sincere delight to watch, thank you, very much!
Exceptional “find” for me and my search into the classics. You encapsulated everything into your presentation to clear the trees so that I may ultimately see the forest! Thank you so much
Thank you, Big Think. This has really activated my almonds.
This video had a big impact on me, thank you.
Questions like what is the best life for a human presuppose there's 1 answer. There may be many equally fantastic ways to live.
42 minutes in before mentioning that there is much outside of the western canon.. not enough to mention it (Buddha, etc. ).. but... you're getting there Jeffrey. Keep learning.
Finding out what's worth reading is a difficult task, and a lot of the concepts hidden in the books mentioned are well worth taking with oneself. I could add a few thoughts about reading the classics, but I will make do with the most important one: Remember that not all those gifted with the mind are as gifted with the pen. Some geniuses are lousy writers. Case in point: I have yet to meet the man or woman who enjoyed reading Hobbes Leviathan, but once you read it and unpack Hobbes ideas you realize they are still relevant and intriguing. In other words: sometimes the reward of reading old classics doesn't lie in the literary prowess of the authors. Endure and often you will be rewarded.
+damillionmalania similarly, 20 variants of the quran in translation begs where to begin. but what a great project that would be! discuss the translation style with muslims of all stripes and get a year's learning out of it. as you said... buried treasure.
That camping story got me all choked up. Beautiful story and a beautiful talk!
I'm going to college this year, majoring in civil engineering and planning on minoring in classics!
As a 35 year-old I have to say I’m pretty jealous of your next 4+ years!
As a 32 year-old I'd like to say the same. I wasted my college years being so self-conscious.
Thank you, sir from Oxford. Your words resonate a truth which is timeless and inspiring.
Very didactic lecture. It enlightens and clarifies important ideas. Thank you!
Thank you for the talk Prof Brenzel. I really enjoyed listening to it.
No, Thrasymachus doesn't "stalk off." He stays to hear the rest of the talk, and in fact insists later (in Book V, at 450a-b) with the others in the party that Socrates complete his promise to describe the Beautiful City he has been building in speech in response to Thrasymachus' definition of justice. Mr. Brenzel makes the unfortunately common mistake in assuming Thrasymachus leaves. Thrasymachus blushes when Socrates catches him out in a contradiction, and stays quiet for a while, but he's too interested in the discussion to simply leave.
Exactly so, as the representative of Tyranny and advocating justice as the advantage of the stronger, it seems it would be self-negating to just leave.
Great lecture! So happy I discovered this series from Big Think! Thank you Dr Brenzel for an enlightening affirmation of the incredibly valuable and often uplifting source of wisdom the Classics can be! This reminds me a bit of the ‘Great Courses’ series now available through Wi-Fi streaming services (for a modest subscription fee). Thank you Big Think as well for a great production!/
this was beautiful, ty, I will start with plato
Part of why I burnt out on my first brush with college was the schooling from high school. We read a lot of the classics - The Canterbury Tales, Lord of the Rings, Brave New World, 1984, the Greek tragedies, etc. Yes, I got a neo-classical education in high school.
I rarely “thumbs up” any TH-cam videos. OMG! I loved this so much! 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼I honestly want to watch more content from this guy. Any more vids from him out there?
A Highly compelling and envigorating exposition, Jeffrey. Thank you!
Only wish they had de-essed the audio somewhat
Don't just read western works, guys. There's a whole world out there.
Listen Alan watts to get a sense of eastern thought like daoism, Buddhism and the like, but the metaphysics of these are found, implied in Plato, specifically Plato’s Parmenides-the latter half of
You can download most of them for free, since there is no copyright for many of the translations.
I like the video it's almost perfect. I have only one thing to add as comment - the professor doesn't mention the eastern christian theologians from late antiquity although their work is essential.
00:08:08 gandhi
00:11:06 instant classics
00:15:04 whitehead
00:21:37 game changers(very good)
00:22:31 augustinus
00:23:17 thomas aquinas
00:23:51 dante alighieri
00:24:26 martin luther
00:25:03 john milton
00:27:34 influence in modern philosophy
00:28:21 nietzsche
00:30:54 mortimer adler(good)
00:36:27 tr malthus
00:38:43 virtue ethics
00:40:51 strangeness
00:42:53 jane austen
00:43:58 emily dickinson
00:47:49 shakespeare
00:49:02 ending
I would add classics from other cultures. The Prince by Machievelli and the Art of War by Sun Tzu are far more practical as operating philisophies than some of the books mentioned.
The Prince is already one of the central political texts of WESTERN culture.
This video just played randomly but he is such a great speaker that I had to listen to it till end plus it’s so full of knowledge.
Thank you so much for making this kind of videos that internet really needs.
A year ago i watched this video for the first time. Since then i've had some shaking existencional crysis (that isn't necessarily a bad thing). I thank Big Think for this video. Just one thing bothers me a bit watching it now: Crime & Punishment by Dostoiévski isn't on the list.
Where is the list?? :) Thanks.
Kevin Gøhler He mentions it further on the video. If i'm not mistaken it's something like this: Oedipus Rex, The Republic, a book from Aristotle (can't recall the name), City of God, Summa Theologica, Dante's Inferno (The Divine Comedy), Paradise Lost, King Lear, War and Peace (though i'd put Crime and Punishment here as well).
How does "Crime & Punishment by Dostoiévski" bother you?
daddyleon Bothers him that he doesn't mention it, not the literary work having an affect on his person.
I agree, I'm surprised Crime & Punishment wasn't mentioned.
Best 56:41 of my life...learned so much!!...I am watching this again. Thanks Professor!!
how do the kardashians fit in to all of this
Essential watching. Reading the classics only after you've watched and studied all of the Kardashian TV shows. It's essential you get those fundamentals down first before tackling the less important classics.
They are cancer, simply a distracting for the masses.
Hard to digest, but definitely giving us some different perspectives
Best hour I have spent in my life. This lecture will pay with interest.
This was inspiring. I'm going to make my friends Watch it (((((:
I just recommend it to my daughter today after viewing it. I'm 81 and she's 54. Never too late.
You answered the question with an *ontology.* All questions can be addressed well with an ontology. This is one of the universal concepts of Aristotle. Makes life better to be able to start to answer any question at all properly. Thanks for a fantastic video.
One can’t get a quality education at Yale, unlesss you’re satisfied with one side of every story.
so you think that the students are cowed. that they have no spunk. I don't think so.
I'll never understand people who have "private libraries". After I finish every book I've purchased, I donate it to my library. Then, if I want to read it again, I know it is available there. Of course in the meantime, others may read the book. Sharing is better than hoarding. Maybe I learned that from a book. Good topic though, I highly recommend PBS's great courses. As someone who couldn't afford to pay for university past my BA, they have kept my mind engaged.
"It's the view!"
I really loved this lecture, especially the part talking about the five values of reading classic works, as well as the discussion of the five attributes that define what a classic work is. It really does help to elucidate the inherent importance of works that are considered classics.
This lecture will go a long way towards encouraging me to seek classic works and to read them.
Speaking of women in philosophy:
"Hypatia, often called Hypatia of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher in Egypt, then a part of the Byzantine Empire. She was the head of the Neoplatonic school at Alexandria, where she taught philosophy and astronomy. "
From Wikipedia.
Why doesn't she deserves to be quoted? -. - Especially as an example of intellectually realised women before and until Christianity struck to the core of equality destroying it!
Anna Rita Rafaschieri Facinating
Why does this involve Christianity many women are still known for example Jane Austen or Laura ingalls wilder? They were alive during Christianity and are still known for what they did and are known by many people.
There is so many authors that you can’t quote all of them.
I don't think she wasn't quoted because she is undeserving. Admittedly, I don't know much about her. However, did she contribute some novel ideas to these subjects? Just searching on Wikipedia it states: "Hypatia has been described as a universal genius, but she was probably more of a teacher and commentator than an innovator. No evidence has been found that Hypatia ever published any independent works on philosophy and she does not appear to have made any groundbreaking mathematical discoveries."
It would be difficult to recommend reading greats works of a person who didn't create any said works.
Your conceptualisation of Christianity is clearly very confused. It may be helpful if you were more specific. Are you referring to Roman Catholic Christianity? The irony here is that the Byzantine Empire was specifically Christian - indeed it was the principle it was founded on by Constantine.
Amen! The higher your climb, the grander the view!
I am so sad few people have watched this...
+Steven Blancher That's because today a very small number of people the right to education and heavier because fewer people develop mental abilities. So sad for planet and future of humans
Marijana Milicevic
What a wonderful teacher.
Here's the number one problem with a "classic" education as it is conceived of by most people in Europe and North America: It is astoundingly, staggeringly ethnocentric. I think reading some classics is great, but viewing them as the pinnacle of human knowledge is incredibly closed minded.
There are many works outside of the west which are included in the western canon: The Analects, Dao de jing, Upanishads, the poetry of Rumi, The Art of War, 1001 Nights, etc.
@@vodkatonyq "Many" looks like an incredible exaggeration to me. Look at the works mentioned in the video and in everyone's comments. Look at the curricula of colleges and universities. Please show me an example of a "classics" or "great books" program in Europe or North America that includes "many" non-western works. I'd love to see it.
Amazing from start to finish! Refreshing after spending too much time in the political comment sections. Thank you for reminding me about something that I had forgotten