The Great Conversation — Interactive Syntopicon of the Great Books

Explore the Great Books of the Western World

Trace an idea across 2,500 years of Western thought.

A free interactive tool built on Adler and Van Doren’s Syntopicon, with links to every book cited.

0 ideas·0+ thoughts

The Ideas

Art

What is art: skilled making as such, or only the production of beauty?

11 thinkers · 11 works

Revolution

When, if ever, is the violent overthrow of an established order justified?

10 thinkers · 13 works

Metaphysics

Is there a science of being as such, and what can it know?

9 thinkers · 9 works

Sign and Symbol

How do signs and symbols carry meaning, and what is the relation between words, ideas, and things?

9 thinkers · 9 works

Religion

Does religion rest on divine revelation or on natural human tendencies, and how should faith relate to reason?

10 thinkers · 10 works

Labor

What is the value of work, and what does the laborer owe to society and society owe to the laborer?

7 thinkers · 8 works

“I am in blood stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o'er.”

William Shakespeare · Macbeth, Act III