Forming the Moral Imagination - feat. Sean Hadley (7x3)

The Optimistic Curmudgeon

Dr. Sean Hadley discusses the effects the key texts of literature have on the moral imagination: Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Vergil's Aeneid, Dante's Divine Comedy, Spenser's Faerie Queene, Milton's Paradise Lose, Sophocles' Oedipus Cycle, The Song of Roland (Anon). Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, Shakespeare's The Tempest, and Lewis's Till We Have Faces. Enjoy this discussion of the formative power great books have on the imagination!

Sean's Substack - A Southern Knickerbocker - https://hadleyonfire.substack.com/

This episode is based on the following two Substack articles:

https://hadleyonfire.substack.com/p/10-books-for-the-classical-imagination

https://hadleyonfire.substack.com/p/10-books-for-the-classical-imagination-b4c

We are grateful for the sponsorship for this episode provided by the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. Check out their website here: https://www.jamesgmartin.center/

The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal educates citizens and decision-makers to improve higher education. The Martin Center is dedicated to promoting knowledge over credentials, restoring genuine liberal learning, and ensuring that public investment in higher education provides value to students, taxpayers, and society.

A recent report from the Martin Center explores Great Books programs across the country. This report is designed for students who desire a deep and broad understanding of the Great Works of Western civilization. It will direct them to almost 50 colleges and universities that offer a substantive education in “the best which has been thought and said.” These programs invite students to become participants in a centuries-long conversation that begins with Plato, Aristotle, and Homer and extends to Dante, Shakespeare, and Jane Austen.

The report can be downloaded from the Martin Center’s website at go.jamesgmartin.center/GREATBOOKS

or here: https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2023/04/preserving-the-canon-great-books-programs-at-americas-colleges-and-universities/