Reading PathsThe examined life
Ten readings testing certainty, assumptions, appearances, and testimony.
10 readings
What you will practice: Support a belief with reasons, examine an alternative, and identify what could change your conclusion.
- Apology · Plato
- Apology · Plato
- Discourse on the Method · René Descartes
- Novum Organum · Francis Bacon
- Novum Organum · Francis Bacon
- An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding · David Hume
- Discourse on the Method · René Descartes
- An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding · David Hume
- Pragmatism · William James
- On Liberty · John Stuart Mill
Open Reading Path →Reading PathsEvidence before certainty
Build an inquiry from a plausible first answer through observation, language, patterns, and revision.
10 readings
What you will practice: Separate observation from inference and name evidence that could overturn a plausible conclusion.
- How We Think · John Dewey
- How We Think · John Dewey
- Novum Organum · Francis Bacon
- Frankenstein · Mary Shelley
- An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding · David Hume
- Discourse on the Method · René Descartes
- Indian Boyhood · Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa)
- An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding · David Hume
- Pragmatism · William James
- Essays — First Series · Ralph Waldo Emerson
Open Reading Path →Reading PathsDisagreeing to understand
Slow down, clarify words, examine another perspective, and distinguish an argument from an authority.
10 readings
What you will practice: Represent an alternative fairly, compare its support with your own, and explain what remains uncertain.
- How We Think · John Dewey
- The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral · Francis Bacon
- On Liberty · John Stuart Mill
- Discourse on the Method · René Descartes
- Pride and Prejudice · Jane Austen
- The Histories · Herodotus
- Essays · Michel de Montaigne
- Essays — First Series · Ralph Waldo Emerson
- An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding · David Hume
- Pragmatism · William James
Open Reading Path → 