Search

Day 28 - Harvard Classics - 90 Day Challenge





Apr 22: FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF MORALS


Happiness as a Duty

Immanuel Kant, the most influential of German philosophers,
taught that it was man's duty to be happy, for an unhappy man
is tempted to sin. Seekers after happiness find aid and inspiration
in Kant's writings.

Read from FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF MORALS ........    Vol. 32, pp. 310-317




Apr 23: Shakespeare's KING LEAR

"If You Have Poison for Me, I Will Drink It"

Shaken and disillusioned by the treachery of his elder daughter,
King Lear suspected even the faithful Cordelia of evil designs.
Her most tender efforts to comfort him failed to drive away the
insistent specter of his madness.

Read from Shakespeare's KING LEAR .........  Vol. 46, pp. 293-303



Apr 24: Darwin's ORIGIN OF SPECIES

Nineteen Million Elephants

At the rate at which elephants naturally increase, Darwin estimated
that in 750 years there could be nearly 19,000,000 elephants.
But did Darwin consider the ravages of civilization and circuses?

Read from Darwin's ORIGIN OF SPECIES ............  Vol. 11, pp. 74-86



Apr 25: Tacitus' ON GERMANY

Mighty Rome Feared These Men

Men who danced among sharp swords—who gambled with their
lives—who took their women to the battlefields to encourage the
brave and shame the cowardly—these were the primitive Germans
who made Roman emperors tremble.

Read from Tacitus' ON GERMANY ...............   Vol. 33, pp. 106-120