HPL Great Books Reading and Discussion Group: "Principles of Government," by Montesquieu

Thursday, August 7, 2008

"Principles of Government," by Montesquieu

Our next discussion takes place Monday, August 28th, at 7 p.m. in the Village Library Meeting Room. The reading is an excerpt from the Spirit of the Laws by the great Charles-Louis de Secondat de Montesquieu (1689-1755). Here Montesquieu compares and contrasts republican, aristocratic, monarchical, and despotic governments. With the presidential campaign heating up, why not take pause to ponder and discuss what this French philosopher had to say about good and bad governments?

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Next Meeting

Our next meeting takes place on Monday, January 27th 2025 at 7 pm at the Main Library Meeting Room or via Zoom. The selection is the the dramatic tragedy "Hekabe" by Euripides (480-406 B.C.E.), which can be found in Great Conversations 5. The anthology can be purchased at the Main Library front desk at 338 Main Street, Huntington, N.Y. at the subsidized price of $10 (thanks to a generous donation from the Friends of the Huntington Public Library). The 2025 February meeting will be on Monday, February 24th, when the selection will be three poems by John Keats, "Ode to a Nightingale," "Ode on a Grecian Urn," and "Ode on Melancholy."

About Shared Inquiry

Also known as the "Socratic Method," the Shared Inquiry discussion technique championed by the Great Books Foundation is a nonauthoritarian approach to book discussion that values life experience as a important element of learning. Discussion leaders ask questions and do not give opinions.

Five rules of Shared Inquiry are:

1. Concentrate on the selection.
2. Address the question at hand.
3. Speak up (but one person at a time, please!)
4. Listen carefully.
5. Discuss the author's ideas, not the author's life and times.