The Great Books are not great because some power structure approved them. If people read the Platonic dialogues closely, for example, I am quite certain that the gnosticism, relativism, and sissy form of nihilism that empowers our decadent government would come under serious review.
That is one reason our schools disable our students from being able to read the great books. They’re all revolutionary, from Achilles withdrawing from battle, to Socrates “corrupting the youth,” to Christ provoking the hypocrites, to Dante scolding the Florentines, to The Declaration of Independence declaring independence.
Meanwhile the books our students read make sycophants out of them and rob them of their confidence that they can challenge their government by holding them to a higher and eternal standard. Not much gives me the creeps more than the thought that a high school or college class president might enter politics outside the school setting.
Related articles
- How To Read a Great Book (Gorgias as Type) (circeinstitute.org)
