The Great Conversation: How Should We Live? at the Abigail Adams Institute

FAIN: AH-275833-20

Abigail Adams Institute, Inc. The (Cambridge, MA 02138-5106)
James Capuzzi (Project Director: May 2020 to July 2023)

Drawing inspiration from Mortimer Adler’s guide to reading and understanding the masterworks of the Western tradition, the Great Conversation: How Should We Live series at the Abigail Adams Institute is open to the public at no cost. This long-standing program promotes general cultural literacy, raises the big questions, and fosters a spirit of intellectual friendship. The Great Conversation is a survey through some of the finest books in the Western tradition that address this fundamental ethical question. How Should We Live is a question that lies right at the core of human identity. Its ever-elusive answer has been pursued, examined, and fought over throughout various traditions for centuries. Our series promotes substantive humanistic engagement with seminar texts. We are proposing to develop a robust digital component to this learning experience which will enable us to maintain our existing participants while also broadening our appeal to others.