Great Books

…Born in Brooklyn, he studied literature and law at Yale University, and was active in the legal and business worlds while teaching. During his term as president of the University of Chicago, he proposed liberal arts education based on the Great Books (1931), a selection of 120 classic masterpieces that encompassed the fields of nature, society, and the humanities, and had a major impact on the liberal arts courses offered at universities today. Drawing on his research into Thomas Aquinas, he preached an educational theory based on a metaphysical view of the world and humanity, but in American educational thought he was an essentialist who placed importance on cultural heritage, and was also a critic of the pragmatism and new education of his time. …

*Some of the terminology that mentions "Great Books" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…ブルックリンに生まれ，イェール大学で文学，法学を修めた後，教壇に立つかたわら，法曹界や実業界でも活躍した。シカゴ大学学長在任中に，自然，社会，人文の諸分野を包括する古典名著120冊を選んだ〈グレート･ブックスGreat Books〉による教養教育を提案し(1931)，今日の大学の一般教養課程のあり方に大きな影響を与えた。トマス･アクイナスの研究から，形而上学的世界観･人間観に基づく教育論を説いたが，アメリカ教育思想上は，文化的遺産を重視する〈エッセンシャリストessentialist〉の立場に立ち，同時代のプラグマティズムや新教育に対する批判者でもあった。…

※「Great Books」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報