Certainly! Below is the reading plan for Year Six of the Great Books of the Western World. This year continues to build on the interdisciplinary approach, balancing literature, philosophy, science, and history.
Year Six: Weekly Reading List and Guide
Week 1
- Literature: James Joyce - Ulysses (Part 1: Chapters 1-3) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: David Hume - An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (Sections 1-5) [~40 pages]
Week 2
- History: Thucydides - The History of the Peloponnesian War (Book 6) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Baruch Spinoza - Ethics (Part 1) [~50 pages]
Week 3
- Literature: Miguel de Cervantes - Don Quixote (Part 1, Chapters 1-8) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: Søren Kierkegaard - Fear and Trembling (Preface and Part 1: “Exordium” and “Eulogy on Abraham”) [~40 pages]
Week 4
- Science: Charles Darwin - The Descent of Man (Part 1: Chapters 1-4) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Immanuel Kant - Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics (Sections 1-3) [~50 pages]
Week 5
- Literature: Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse (Chapters 1-10) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel - Phenomenology of Spirit (Preface and Introduction) [~40 pages]
Week 6
- History: Edward Gibbon - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Chapters 38-39) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Friedrich Nietzsche - Beyond Good and Evil (Chapters 1-3) [~50 pages]
Week 7
- Literature: Leo Tolstoy - War and Peace (Book 3, Parts 1-2) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: René Descartes - Discourse on the Method (Parts 1-4) [~40 pages]
Week 8
- Science: Albert Einstein - The Theory of Relativity (Part 1: Special Relativity) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Aristotle - Politics (Books 3-4) [~50 pages]
Week 9
- Literature: William Faulkner - The Sound and the Fury (Part 1: April 7, 1928) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: John Locke - Second Treatise of Government (Chapters 1-5) [~40 pages]
Week 10
- History: Herodotus - The Histories (Book 8, Sections 1-75) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Jean-Paul Sartre - Existentialism Is a Humanism [~50 pages]
Week 11
- Literature: Gustave Flaubert - Madame Bovary (Part 1: Chapters 1-5) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: John Stuart Mill - Utilitarianism (Chapters 1-3) [~40 pages]
Week 12
- Science: Sigmund Freud - Civilization and Its Discontents [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Michel de Montaigne - Essays (Of Custom, and That We Should Not Easily Change a Law) [~50 pages]
Week 13
- Literature: Herman Melville - Billy Budd, Sailor [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: Arthur Schopenhauer - The World as Will and Representation (Volume 1, Book 1: The World as Representation, First Aspect) [~40 pages]
Week 14
- History: Tacitus - Annals (Book 5) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Simone de Beauvoir - The Ethics of Ambiguity (Chapters 1-2) [~50 pages]
Week 15
- Literature: Thomas Mann - Death in Venice [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: Karl Marx - The Communist Manifesto [~40 pages]
Week 16
- Science: Isaac Newton - Principia Mathematica (Book 1, Sections 1-4) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Friedrich Nietzsche - On the Genealogy of Morals (Preface and First Essay) [~50 pages]
Week 17
- Literature: Franz Kafka - The Metamorphosis [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: Aristotle - Nicomachean Ethics (Books 6-7) [~40
Week 18
- History: Thucydides - The History of the Peloponnesian War (Book 7) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Immanuel Kant - Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (Preface and Section 1) [~50 pages]
Week 19
- Literature: James Joyce - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Chapters 1-2) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: Baruch Spinoza - Ethics (Part 2: Of the Nature and Origin of the Mind) [~40 pages]
Week 20
- Science: Charles Darwin - The Descent of Man (Part 2: Chapters 5-7) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Søren Kierkegaard - The Sickness Unto Death (Part 1) [~50 pages]
Week 21
- Literature: Marcel Proust - Swann’s Way (Part 1: Overture) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel - Phenomenology of Spirit (Chapter 1: Sense-Certainty) [~40 pages]
Week 22
- History: Edward Gibbon - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Chapters 40-41) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Friedrich Nietzsche - The Birth of Tragedy (Chapters 16-25) [~50 pages]
Week 23
- Literature: Virginia Woolf - Mrs. Dalloway (Part 1: Morning) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: René Descartes - Meditations on First Philosophy (Meditation 2: Concerning the Nature of the Human Mind) [~40 pages]
Week 24
- Science: Albert Einstein - Relativity: The Special and the General Theory (Chapters 11-15) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Aristotle - Politics (Books 5-6) [~50 pages]
Week 25
- Literature: Thomas Hardy - Tess of the d’Urbervilles (Chapters 1-10) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: John Locke - Second Treatise of Government (Chapters 6-10) [~40 pages]
Week 26
- History: Herodotus - The Histories (Book 9, Sections 1-90) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Jean-Paul Sartre - Being and Nothingness (Part 1: The Pursuit of Being) [~50 pages]
Week 27
- Literature: Henry James - The Portrait of a Lady (Chapters 1-10) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: John Stuart Mill - On Liberty (Chapter 5) [~40 pages]
Week 28
- Science: Sigmund Freud - The Interpretation of Dreams (Part 1: The Scientific Literature) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Michel de Montaigne - Essays (Of the Inconsistency of Our Actions) [~50 pages]
Week 29
- Literature: Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Scarlet Letter (Chapters 1-10) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: Arthur Schopenhauer - The World as Will and Representation (Volume 1, Book 2: The World as Will, First Aspect) [~40 pages]
Week 30
- History: Tacitus - Annals (Book 6) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Simone de Beauvoir - The Ethics of Ambiguity (Chapters 3-4) [~50 pages]
Week 31
- Literature: Henry David Thoreau - Walden (Chapters 1-5) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: Karl Marx - Das Kapital (Volume 1, Chapter 1) [~40 pages]
Week 32
- Science: Isaac Newton - Opticks (Book 1, Part 1) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Friedrich Nietzsche - On the Genealogy of Morals (Second Essay) [~50 pages]
Week 33
- Literature: Herman Melville - Moby-Dick (Chapters 21-30) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: Aristotle - Nicomachean Ethics (Books 8-9) [~40 pages]
Week 34
- History: Thucydides - The History of the Peloponnesian War (Book 8) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Immanuel Kant - Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (Sections 2-3) [~50 pages]
Week 35
- Literature: James Joyce - Ulysses (Part 2: Chapters 4-6) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: Baruch Spinoza - Ethics (Part 3: Of the Origin and Nature of the Emotions) [~40 pages]
Week 36
- Science: Charles Darwin - The Descent of Man (Part 3: Chapters 8-10) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Søren Kierkegaard - The Sickness Unto Death (Part 2) [~50 pages]
Week 37
- Literature: Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse (Chapters 11-20) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel - Phenomenology of Spirit (Chapter 2: Perception) [~40 pages]
Week 38
- History: Edward Gibbon - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Chapters 42-43) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Friedrich Nietzsche - The Gay Science (Books 1-2) [~50 pages]
Week 39
- Literature: Leo Tolstoy - War and Peace (Book 3, Parts 3-4) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: René Descartes - Rules for the Direction of the Mind (Rules 1-12) [~40 pages]
Week 40
- Science: Albert Einstein - The Theory of Relativity (Part 2: General Relativity) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Aristotle - Politics (Books 7-8) [~50 pages]
Week 41
- Literature: William Faulkner - As I Lay Dying (Chapters 1-30) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: John Locke - Second Treatise of Government (Chapters 11-14) [~40 pages]
Week 42
- History: Herodotus - The Histories (Book 9, Sections 91-121) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Jean-Paul Sartre - Being and Nothingness (Part 2: The Pursuit of Being) [~50 pages]
Week 43
- Literature: Marcel Proust - Swann’s Way (Part 2: Combray) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: John Stuart Mill - The Subjection of Women (Chapters 1-2) [~40 pages]
Week 44
- Science: Sigmund Freud - Totem and Taboo [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Michel de Montaigne - Essays (Of Experience) [~50 pages]
Week 45
- Literature: Henry James - The Turn of the Screw [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: Arthur Schopenhauer - The World as Will and Representation (Volume 1, Book 3: The World as Will, Second Aspect) [~40 pages]
Week 46
- History: Tacitus - Histories (Book 1) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Simone de Beauvoir - The Second Sex (Introduction and Chapter 1) [~50 pages]
Week 47
- Literature: Nathaniel Hawthorne - The House of the Seven Gables (Chapters 1-10) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: Karl Marx - Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 [~40 pages]
Week 48
- Science: Isaac Newton - Opticks (Book 1, Part 2) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Friedrich Nietzsche - On the Genealogy of Morals (Third Essay) [~50 pages]
Week 49 (continued)
- Literature: Gustave Flaubert - Madame Bovary (Part 2: Chapters 1-7) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: Friedrich Nietzsche - On the Genealogy of Morals (Third Essay) [~50 pages]
Week 50
- History: Plutarch - Lives (The Life of Alexander) [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: John Stuart Mill - The Subjection of Women (Chapters 3-4) [~50 pages]
Week 51
- Literature: James Joyce - Dubliners (Stories: “The Sisters,” “An Encounter,” “Araby,” “Eveline”) [~60 pages]
- Philosophy: David Hume - An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (Sections 1-5) [~40 pages]
Week 52
- Science: Sigmund Freud - The Future of an Illusion [~50 pages]
- Philosophy: Aristotle - Nicomachean Ethics (Book 10) [~50 pages]
This plan wraps up Year Six with a broad and enriching selection of classic works, engaging you with a variety of perspectives in literature, history, philosophy, and science. The readings are designed to interlace different disciplines, building a holistic understanding of Western thought and cultural heritage.
If you’re ready to continue, I can assist in developing the plan for Year Seven!