Great Books Seminars

The first year of the seminar is entitled “Living the Good Life” and explores themes revolving around culture, custom, happiness, ethics, virtue and vice, the quest for human perfection, and the fact of human folly. The year is split into a first semester that focuses on custom and culture to explore how these shape our understanding of and interaction with the world, while the second semester focuses on the science of ethics (ʿilm al-akhlāq) to discover the virtues and vices of the soul to acquire the former and to rid one’s self of the latter in order to attain happiness in this life and the next. By recognizing how customs and culture shape us and how we can orient our souls to live ethically, students gain a moral compass to orient their lives.

The second year, “Society & Civilization,” delves into the philosophy of history, sociology, politics, law, leadership, statecraft, warfare, empire, justice, and tyranny. The first semester focuses on history, historiography, and sociology. We read texts covering key portions of Western and Islamic history including the Peloponnesian War, the fall of the Roman Republic, the retaking of Jerusalem by Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn, the capture of Constantinople, Babur’s conquest of India, and Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt. The second semester focuses on political theory, governance, and law. We explore themes on Islamic statecraft, constitutional theory, and relations between nations. We ask questions such as “is there a ‘science of history’ that can predict future events?” “How should a government be structured?” “What should the aim of politics be?” “Is empire a good or evil thing?” “What is the relationship between political expediency and morality?” At this stage students learn to interpret how the past affects the present and how political life shapes the way we live.