My main struggle when reading philosophy on my own was not knowing who to read, in what order, which section to focus on, trying to read the whole book and getting stuck in the weeds. So the reading list alone is more valuable than gold for me. We are clearly in good hands because the readings are precise and have a clear progression. Thank you Larry! God is using you to reach other truth seekers. The smart kind, where traditional evangelism would never satisfy their intellectual rigour.
Thanks, Michael! Thanks particularly for noticing—figuring out exactly what to read is hard and important. I spent 5+ hours over 3-4 sessions with ChatGPT and then Claude figuring out exactly what the Aristotle readings would be. Just the Physics? Just the Metaphysics? Both? What background is really necessary? We’re not getting a general intro to Aristotle’s metaphysics, but so much is relevant. Sometimes the decision comes down to the difficulty of a particular concept—some are straightforward enough that we don’t need to read a lot about them, others are inherently difficult, and Aristotle writes a lot about them—but I’m not a sadist (or a masochist), so I wouldn’t have you read everything on all the hard concepts.
I did compare our reading list to other advanced philosophy courses, and our selection is fairly unique. Others give relatively quick one-week overviews focusing on just one reading (always Metaphysics XII), but we’re doing both of the arguments and pulling in the material (mostly from the Physics) needed to understand them.
You’re also right about the usefulness of the “progression,” but the progression is not to my credit but simply a feature of how intellectual history unfolds. Aristotle was Plato’s student and would have read the Timaeus and the Laws, and very possibly conversed with the man himself on these subjects. Aquinas knew Augustine’s works well, and to a great extent made Aristotle Christian. Since we are going topically, through argument “verticals” beginning with various cosmological arguments, it will be particularly easy to see borrowings. Already in Physics II.1–3 we can see Aristotle’s dependence on foregoing discussions of nature (physis), and as we’ll see, what he says about the eternity of circular motion he seems to borrow directly from Plato.
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