Course Info and Schedule

“Talk Back to Socrates”  . . . and Shakespeare, Keats, Leo Tolstoy, Kant . . ., then have a swim or play some tennis and, later, discuss the whole day with new friends.

"Talk Back" is more than talk:
You'll work out the principles of perspective with the help Greek and Arab classics on optics; you'll play Lewis Carroll's Game of Logic; you'll enjoy a professional performance of The Tempest, after a back-stage tour and a conversation with the actors; you'll take in some of San Francisco the tourists see (and some they don't).

 

"Talk Back" is friends and fun:
Plato calls study "serious play"; we agree. You'll study with the Tutors of Saint Mary's AALE-accredited Integral Curriculum of Liberal Arts, but you'll learn from your colleagues, from teachers who deserve the title "Great"—Sophocles, Plato, Euclid, Goethe, T. S. Eliot—and from writings that deliver what they demand: clear thought, clearly expressed, without pretense and without reservation. You will surprise yourself.

 

"Talk Back" is an environment for study:
You'll stay on the superbly beautiful Saint Mary's College campus, with plenty of time for walks, recreation . . . and reflection. You'll eat well and sleep comfortably in well-appointed accommodations, with 24-hour security and supervision. Tutors attend scheduled study hours, ready to discuss your questions or join you in informal inquiry.

 

"Talk Back" to grow:
you'll sharpen your powers of observation, tune your ear to rhythmic meters, work out the architecture of complex arguments, reflect on God, man, and creation, on human life and human death . . . and you'll put it all to work through the art of conversational inquiry.

Reading List

Session I

Session II

Euripides, The Bacchae
Sophocles, Elektra
Plato, Lysis Plato, Ion
Lewis Carroll, The Game of Logic Alberti, On Painting
The Bible, Tobit, Galatians Euclid, Optics
Al-Haytham, On Optics
Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn The Bible, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Ephesians
Shakespeare, The Tempest Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium
Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral Shakespeare, The Tempest
Goethe, Metamorphosis of Plants Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Illych
Kant, Differentiation of Regions in Space Frege, What is a Function?
C. S. Lewis, Learning in Wartime Pieper, The Philosophical Act
A Typical Day
 7:00am – 8:30  Breakfast in Oliver Hall
 8:30 – 9:30  Reading Time
 9:30 – 11:00 Discussion of Al-Haytham's Optics, accompanied by observation and experimentation in the laboratory
 11:00 – 12:00  Free time for reading and conversation
 12:00pm – 1:00  Lunch
 1:00 – 2:30  Seminar on Tolstoy, Death of Ivan Ilyich
 2:30 – 5:00  Recreation: Pool open until 4pm
 5:00 – 6:00  Dinner
6:00 – 11:00 Reading for next day’s classes; informal conversation with tutors; Lights out at 11pm

Session I (7/28 - 8/4/13)

 

Session II (8/4 - 8/11/13)

Sunday Check-in; Welcome BBQ and campus tour for parents and students        Check-in; Welcome BBQ and campus tour for parents and students
Monday Euripides, Bacchae
Lewis Carroll, The Game of Logic
Sophocles, Elektra
Euclid, Optics
Tuesday Plato, Lysis
Lewis Carroll, The Game of Logic
Plato, Ion
Alberti, On Painting
Wednesday

Tobit
Galatians

Evening seminar (reading TBD)

Ecclesiastes;
Song of Solomon and Ephesians
Evening seminar (reading TBD)

Thursday Excursion Day:
Bus trip to San Francisco landmarks and the Legion of Honor Museum; Seminar on Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn in Golden Gate Park; attend evening performance, TBD.
Excursion Day:
Bus trip to San Francisco landmarks and the Legion of Honor Museum; Seminar on W.B. Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium; attend evening performance, TBD.
Friday Goethe, Metamorphosis of Plants (laboratory)
Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral
Al-Haytham, Optics (laboratory)
Tolstoy, Death of  Ivan  Illych
Saturday Goethe, Metamorphosis of Plants (laboratory)
Kant, Regions in Space
Optics laboratory
Frege, What is a Function?
Sunday Lewis, Learning in Wartime
Check-out; Farewell BBQ with poetry and oratory
Pieper, The Philosophical Act
Check-out; Farewell BBQ with poetry and oratory