Great Books Foundation
Encyclopedia
The Great Books Foundation, incorporated in the state of Illinois
and based in Chicago
, is an independent, nonprofit educational organization
whose mission is to help people think and share ideas. Toward this end, the Foundation publishes collections of classic and modern literature as part of a continuum of reading and discussion programs for children and adults. The foundation has two main programs: Junior Great Books, serving students in kindergarten through high school, and Great Books Discussion for college students, continuing education, and Great Books book groups. The organization derives its income from the sale of books, teacher professional development fees, contributions, and grants.
Established in 1947 by a group of prominent citizens led by University of Chicago
Chancellor Robert Maynard Hutchins and Mortimer Adler
, the Great Books Foundation began as a grassroots movement to promote continuing liberal education for the general public. In 1960 the Foundation extended its mission to children with the introduction of Junior Great Books. Since its inception, the Foundation has helped thousands of people throughout the U.S. and in foreign countries begin their own discussion groups in schools, libraries, and community centers. Since 2001, the Foundation has published the quarterly magazine The Common Review
.
Great Books discussions use a distinctive discussion method called "Shared Inquiry", in which the leader starts with an open-ended question
about the meaning of a selection and then asks follow-up questions to help participants develop their ideas. Developed by the Great Books Foundation, Shared Inquiry is related to Socratic
discussion but is distinguished by the fact that the basic discussion question is one to which the leader does not know the answer.
Sixty years after Adler co-founded the Great Books Foundation, it continues to embrace his insistence that the civil discussion of challenging ideas is a powerful source of personal growth and social engagement. But for most of that history and certainly since the introduction of Junior Great Books in 1960, the foundation has rejected Adler's narrow view of "great books" as almost entirely the product of Western males. Despite a common misconception to the contrary, the foundation promotes the reading and discussion of great literature wherever it is found, including literature by outstanding contemporary authors, women authors, and authors from all over the world.
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
and based in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, is an independent, nonprofit educational organization
Educational organization
Educational organization has multiple meanings according to the field and setting in which it is being applied.In educational psychology, educational organization is organization within the scope of education...
whose mission is to help people think and share ideas. Toward this end, the Foundation publishes collections of classic and modern literature as part of a continuum of reading and discussion programs for children and adults. The foundation has two main programs: Junior Great Books, serving students in kindergarten through high school, and Great Books Discussion for college students, continuing education, and Great Books book groups. The organization derives its income from the sale of books, teacher professional development fees, contributions, and grants.
Established in 1947 by a group of prominent citizens led by University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
Chancellor Robert Maynard Hutchins and Mortimer Adler
Mortimer Adler
Mortimer Jerome Adler was an American philosopher, educator, and popular author. As a philosopher he worked within the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions. He lived for the longest stretches in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and San Mateo, California...
, the Great Books Foundation began as a grassroots movement to promote continuing liberal education for the general public. In 1960 the Foundation extended its mission to children with the introduction of Junior Great Books. Since its inception, the Foundation has helped thousands of people throughout the U.S. and in foreign countries begin their own discussion groups in schools, libraries, and community centers. Since 2001, the Foundation has published the quarterly magazine The Common Review
The Common Review
The Common Review is the quarterly magazine of the Great Books Foundation. The magazine specializes in nonfiction essays and articles "about the books and ideas that matter", as well as reviews of new books, letters, and editorials. The magazine has been twice nominated for the Utne Independent...
.
Great Books discussions use a distinctive discussion method called "Shared Inquiry", in which the leader starts with an open-ended question
Open-ended question
A closed-ended question is a form of question which can normally be answered using a simple "yes" or "no", a specific simple piece of information, or a selection from multiple choices.Examples include:*Question: Do you know your weight?Answer: Yes....
about the meaning of a selection and then asks follow-up questions to help participants develop their ideas. Developed by the Great Books Foundation, Shared Inquiry is related to Socratic
Socratic method
The Socratic method , named after the classical Greek philosopher Socrates, is a form of inquiry and debate between individuals with opposing viewpoints based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas...
discussion but is distinguished by the fact that the basic discussion question is one to which the leader does not know the answer.
Sixty years after Adler co-founded the Great Books Foundation, it continues to embrace his insistence that the civil discussion of challenging ideas is a powerful source of personal growth and social engagement. But for most of that history and certainly since the introduction of Junior Great Books in 1960, the foundation has rejected Adler's narrow view of "great books" as almost entirely the product of Western males. Despite a common misconception to the contrary, the foundation promotes the reading and discussion of great literature wherever it is found, including literature by outstanding contemporary authors, women authors, and authors from all over the world.
See also
- The Common ReviewThe Common ReviewThe Common Review is the quarterly magazine of the Great Books Foundation. The magazine specializes in nonfiction essays and articles "about the books and ideas that matter", as well as reviews of new books, letters, and editorials. The magazine has been twice nominated for the Utne Independent...
- Great BooksGreat BooksGreat Books refers primarily to a group of books that tradition, and various institutions and authorities, have regarded as constituting or best expressing the foundations of Western culture ; derivatively the term also refers to a curriculum or method of education based around a list of such books...
- Western canonWestern canonThe term Western canon denotes a canon of books and, more broadly, music and art that have been the most important and influential in shaping Western culture. As such, it includes the "greatest works of artistic merit." Such a canon is important to the theory of educational perennialism and the...
- St. John's College, U.S.St. John's College, U.S.St. John's College is a liberal arts college with two U.S. campuses: one in Annapolis, Maryland and one in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Founded in 1696 as a preparatory school, King William's School, the school received a collegiate charter in 1784, making it one of the oldest institutions of higher...
- Shimer CollegeShimer CollegeShimer College is a very small, private, undergraduate liberal arts college in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Founded by Frances Wood Shimer in 1853 in the frontier town of Mt. Carroll, Illinois, it was a women's school for most of its first century. It joined with the University of...
- Harrison Middleton UniversityHarrison Middleton UniversityHarrison Middleton University is a distance-learning university offering degree programs in the humanities through The College of the Humanities and Sciences. Like a handful of traditional, bricks and mortar liberal arts colleges, The College of the Humanities and Sciences focuses its scope on the...
External links
- Great Books Foundation official website
- Bartleby Free online access to many Great Books titles.
- Harrison Middleton University Distance-learning university using the Great Books as its curriculum
- St. John's College Venerated liberal arts college using the Great Books as its curriculum
- Shimer College Great Books College in Chicago
- http://www.biola.edu/academics/torrey/about Torrey Honors Great Books Program in the Classical Judeo-Christian tradition at Biola University in Los Angeles