Renaissance Education - how to study and apply classical literature
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Enjoy A Renaissance Education.
Educational endeavors, as all social activities, move from extreme to extreme like a pendulum. At the start of the renaissance there was need to redevelop appreciation of science and math after the excesses of allegorical thought within the preceding Middle Ages.
We are now at the opposite end of the pendulum's swing. There is no need to stress math and science - they are over emphasized by every bureaucratic educator. What has been lost, and sometimes even vilified, is a natural desire to understand "why."
Therefore our Renaissance education includes deep study of classical books and achievements while retaining appropriate appreciation for science and math. Like early renaissance students we will study classical style literature to build a foundation for understanding the new era that rises before us.
This study is possible for everyone willing to put in effort while seeking the interwoven rewards of wisdom and understanding. Our interconnected future will favor the prepared mind.
How do I start a Renaissance style study program?
This will not be like reading novels or magazines, although once you are done you will be better at that also.
The first step is pursuing a deeper method of reading than is taught in existing common schools of the bureaucratic age. See if you can find a friend or two to travel on this learning journey with you.
Coerced learning in approved institutions requires a different approach than Renaissance learning. Each approach is appropriate to its goals. Renaissance education is like enjoying a fine meal.
When eating a hot dog at an amusement park it is appropriate to gulp it down with a soda and hurry on. But if you are lingering over fine cuisine with a cherished friend; savoring the complexly flavored taste of each course, every sip of wine, and enjoying intimate conversation is important to the experience.
Life will still be waiting when you are finished, but you will have fully lived in the present, and you will be better nourished for the future.
To prepare for the emerging Netcohort age you need to make yourself more valuable. For many this will be a post literature age as multimedia and video instruct. To be valuable -- be one of the few that understand deeper, finer things.
"In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different." - Coco Channel
Start now with one of these books on how to read a book. This step will help ensure your depth of understanding as your renaissance study continues.
The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had
Amazon Price: $18.45 (as of 07/05/2009) 
List Price: $27.95
The Improvement of the Mind: To which is Added a Discourse on the Education of Children and Youth
Amazon Price: $17.99 (as of 07/05/2009)
List Price: $17.99
How to Read a Book (A Touchstone book)
Amazon Price: $13.25 (as of 07/05/2009)
List Price: $16.99
Independent Scholar's Handbook: How to Turn Your Interest in Any Subject into Expertise
Available used at a great price. A guide book for anyone that wants to follow current scholarly methods to enhance specific knowledge, or to write for peer review journals.
Amazon Price: (as of 07/05/2009)
List Price: $15.95
Why Self Educate?
Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.
Plato
Renaissance educators enthusiastically embraced classical achievements.
Classic literature is the foundational basis for renaissance style learning.
When reading classic style books for deeper understanding, speed is not important. What is to be valued in renaissance education is comprehension and analysis - do you find wisdom in what was written?
It will take effort to gain understanding from literature of the style used during the Renaissance for education. "The desire to know is natural to good men." - Leonardo da Vinci
Like all volitional reading, studying the classics brings pleasures, but in a most enduring form. For a renaissance education the following is a suggested process:
"If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest." - Benjamin Franklin"
Discovering Renaissance Education
Renaissance education is best accomplished by self education while interacting with friends and mentors of your choice.
"Academies that are founded at public expense are instituted not so much to cultivate men's natural abilities as to restrain them." - Baruch Spinoza
Music of the Reniassance
There was more to appreciate in the Renaissance than their approach to learning.
The Tallis Scholars sings Palestrina
Lets start with some ancient, classical texts and move forward chronologically.
The oldest classical literature will be an assumed knowledge as you approach renaissance literature.
Classical books are a sublime path for learning about the present day.
The authors of these books viewed their world differently than we view ours. As a consequence they were blind to other factors than we are. Each book becomes a chance to compare and contrast; and perhaps learn where we may be wrong.
These books are serious reading - expect to read each book a couple of times, slowly. Write in the margins and underline, take notes, and talk about them with friends. Add insights gained and representative quotes to your journal, blog, or Squidoo lenses.
The classical and renaissance wisdom you gain will remain with you your entire life.
The Republic (Penguin Classics)
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Plutarch's Lives Volume 1 (Modern Library Classics)
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Amazon Price: $11.16 (as of 07/05/2009)
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St. Augustine Confessions (Oxford World's Classics)
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The Prince: Second Edition
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Amazon Price: $10.00 (as of 07/05/2009)
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Two Treatises of Government
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Amazon Price: $12.59 (as of 07/05/2009)
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Galileo Galilei
You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him discover it within himself.
Have any inspirational leaders emerged from studying the classics?
C. F. Bastiat and Benjamin Franklin are examples of what can be accomplished by diligent, student-directed learning.
Bastiat was of the aristocracy, Franklin a printer's apprentice; both excelled in an era of major change by applying logical, renaissance style study.
Due to a death in his family Bastiat was unable to finish his formal education. He continued his studies however, and found a friend with opposing views to discuss and debate principles.
Claude Frédéric Bastiat is still influential with those that want to understand economics without having to delve into the unwieldy and inaccurate mathematical models currently favored.
Benjamin Franklin applied himself with diligence, debating and writing about what he understood to be truth. Much of what he wrote has appeared as jewels of understanding in oft quoted sayings.
Ben Franklin was a major influence on the emergence of an experimental republic formed by representative consensus of thirteen individual countries - or states. Their original construction of independent and competitive internal governments with a weak federal coalition for external affairs was to survive for almost a century; a significant achievement.
There are thousands of other individuals that have shaped society by applying understanding and wisdom acquired through various forms of renaissance education.
If you are not satisfied being a standardized cog within an inflexable social machine, you too can learn how to study and benefit from classical literature.
"The risks and rewards of natural enterprise are greater, and of far more value to society, than any illusions of security that bind human cogs within a social machine." - Allan Wallace
Let's choose several books that will aid in reflection.
Not all of these are universally considered part of the top 100 best books, or even as appropriate books for everyone.
Once you have carefully studied these great books you will have a substantial foundation for understanding any serious book, from any culture, or from any time.
Iliad and Odyssey boxed set
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The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
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The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (Penguin Classics)
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Amazon Price: $10.88 (as of 07/05/2009)
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Education's End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life
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Amazon Price: $18.15 (as of 07/05/2009)
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Have you started your Renaissance education?
Actually, having read this page is a start.
The real question then becomes:
Are you ready to continue your Renaissance education?
tandemonimom wrote...
Excellent treatise, as usual! Welcome to The Homeschooling Group!
Posted May 05, 2009
Spook wrote...
What happened to me is, that in order to improve my vocabulary I was compelled into reading. Unfortunately after years of doing this, I lost interest. Great lens
Posted May 04, 2009
Recession-Proof wrote...
This is a great lens Allen. I too studied literature in college, I actually was studying toward my PhD but I burned out. You know what? All those years of studying books made me not love reading just for the sake of reading anymore. It had become a chore. It's taken me a long time to unlearn my education, but I love reading again. . .
Posted October 19, 2008
ChristiannaGarrett-Martin wrote...
A wonderful article! I studied English Literature but need to broaden my knowledge to stretch myself more.
Beautifully written with great insight.
Christianna
Posted October 08, 2008
struwwelfranz wrote...
How refreshing to encounter someone who is unafraid to argue for the need to gain depth of knowledge, even if it means we have to dig for it ourselves. In the present age of massively interconnected communication, we have fabulous breadth of knowledge. We are in danger of losing our depth.
Only five people have rated this lens. I'm happy to be among them.
Posted September 26, 2008
dc64 wrote...
It's great to come across such a well written and thoughtful lens. We have so many different people and modern devices telling us what to think, that it's nice to find someone who urges us towards independent thought. The classical arts and literature introduce a whole new way of seeing humanity, and in my opinion, a better way. If only the Library of Alexandria wasn't destroyed...
An enthusiastic 5 stars
Posted September 13, 2008
LillyMunster (twitter) wrote
Excellent post, excellent philosophy. We homeschool with classics. I cringe when teens complain about "boring" classics or "lame" history. History should be studied in order and not for fact memorization, otherwise the lessons are lost. Classics safely walk us through philosophy, dilema, and character. It also makes us better writers (like Ben Franklin learned). I combine classical literature w/history, so that the work can be viewed from the period's perspective...this is lost in our present school system. GREAT POST!
Posted September 04, 2008
danismom97 wrote...
I love all things literature so I found this lens very fascinating as well as a very enjoyable reading experience all its own! :)
Posted June 16, 2008
The_Homeopath wrote...
This is a wonderful lens. I would be very interested in reading one in which you discuss contemporary authors in the same context with works such as 1984, Metamorphosis, Brave New World, and the like.
Posted June 06, 2008
blastfromthepast wrote...
Thank you for your lens on renaissance education! The great books have so much to teach us; and yet they are being cast aside by many teachers and dismissed as mere "cultural artifacts" of earlier centuries. They are in fact cultural monuments!
Posted May 18, 2008
Coral wrote
One of the best lenses I've come across. I shall come back here again.
Best wishes
Coral
Posted May 18, 2008
Let's start building a list of great books.
We can build this list ourselves
Add any classical style books that are particularly valuable. Feel free to vote on books you have read. Vote up your favorites, add great books that are not yet listed.
I may edit this list occasionally.
Will we push this list to the 100 most important books?
1
Gulliver's Travels (Unabridged Classics) by Jonathan Swift
If you want to complement this with a more modern tale, also read The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible2 points
2
Holy Bible, Giant Print Presentation Edition: King James Version
A Bible that's easy on the eyes and the wallet, and is a beautiful read.1 point
3
The Epic of Gilgamesh: An English Verison with an Introduction (Penguin Classics) by Anonymous
One of the best and most important pieces of epic poetry from human history, predating even Homer's Iliad by roughly 1,500 years,1 point
4
Walden by Henry, David Thoreau
Two years spent by Henry David Thoreau living at Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts. A man seeking a more simple life by living in harmony with nature.1 point
5
Rhetoric (Thrift Edition) by Aristotle
Thought provoking, even today. This is one reader's favorite philosophical text.1 point
6
Bushido: The Way of the Samurai (Square One Classics) by Tsunetomo Yamamoto
Guiding principles that greatly influenced the Japanese ruling class and shaped the underlying character of the Japanese psyche.1 point
8
Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph by T.E. Lawrence
Lawrence of Arabia." Not only a consummate military history, but also a colorful epic and a lyrical exploration of the mind of a great man who helped shape the Middle East as it exists today.0 points
9
Don Quixote (Penguin Classics) by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Don Quixote, with the company of his faithful squire Sancho Panza, roam the world and haunt readers' imaginations.0 points
10
The History of the Peloponnesian War: Revised Edition (Penguin Classics) by Thucydides
A detailed contemporary account of the struggle between Athens and Sparta. Thucydides applied a passion for accuracy in compiling this record of the conflict.0 points
11
The Philosophical Writings of Descartes: Volume 1 by Rene Descartes
Should meet the widespread demand for an accurate and authoritative edition of Descartes' philosophical writings in clear and readable modern English.0 points
12
On Liberty (Rethinking the Western Tradition) by John Stuart Mill
"The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others."0 points
13
Classical Tragedy - Greek and Roman: Eight Plays in Authoriative Modern Translations by Aeschylus, Euripides, Seneca
A collection of eight plays along with accompanying critical essays. Read through the plays before you read the critical essays - get your thoughts on paper before they are corrupted by other's views.0 points
14
The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America
A pocket edition of America's founding documents.0 points
15
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles MacKay
Being sensible and clever is no defense against the mesmeric allure of a popular craze with the wind behind it.0 points
16
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
... everything necessary to deal with conflict wisely, honorably, victoriously, is already present within us. Compiled more than two thousand years ago.0 points
17
Aesop's Fables: A Classic Illustrated Edition (Classic Illustrated) by Aesop
The legendary name of Aesop has been associated for thousands of years with an enduringly popular collection of enchanting fables.0 points
18
Ten Plays by Euripides by Euripides
The first playwright of democracy, Euripides wrote with enduring insight and biting satire about social and political problems of Athenian life.0 points
19
Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy by Miyamoto Musashi
"One of the most insightful texts on the subtle arts of confrontation and victory to emerge from Asian culture." - Amazon Review Be sure to read the appendix after the first reading.0 points
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