Great Books II   Spring 2007
  Reading Questions  
 

February 1

 

Dante

Read one Canto aloud each day.

 

Augustine (IX-X)
Focus on XXIII-XXV
  1. Why is the bridge broken in the sixth circle of the Malabolgia?

  2. What is Dante teaching us about fraud by the architecture of this region?

  3. Why is hypocrisy at the cusp of the Malabolgia? What do the sins of fraud above hypocrisy have in common?

  4. Why must Virgil "save" Dante in Canto XXIII?

  5. Analyze the contrapasso of the thieves and serpents in Canto XXIV-V.

  6. What contrapasso is apropos for someone guilty of launching a computer virus?

 

  1. What affect does Monica's death have on Augustine?
  2. In his dialogue "Meno", Plato says: "There is no teaching, but only recollection." What would Augustine say about this statement?
  3. Why are we lost? What is the root problem?
  4. What is the relationship between self and memory?