First - what you're asking for is pretty much what a decent liberal arts education was originally supposed to provide - a good grounding in the basics of the various foundational sciences, mathematics, history, major languages, literature, et al. As you (and the wiki) point out, the breadth of human knowledge for at least the last couple hundred years has precluded any single person from attaining an expert level of familiarity with more than a smidgen of it.
Second - a single course won't even give you the slightest taste of it. You're talking about a goal that takes
years to attain - this is the work of a
lifetime, not a semester.
Honestly though, this is one of those times where it
is the journey rather than the destination that's important.
The single most important step is to learn to take joy in learning for the sake of learning. And finding friends that enjoy talking about these kinds of things.
Third - Books and classes aren't enough to really get the "feel" of a discipline. Think of it like the secular version of apostolic succession - some aspects of any given discipline are only learned by being in that discipline for a while - getting to know the people and the slang and the in-jokes of the community. Things most people would consider unimportant enough to document, but flavor the very water of the texts and classwork.
Fourth - the canon itself. Obviously everyone has their own sacred cows, but this is what I'd put forth as an absolute minimum
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Sciences: 100 to 200 level coursework in Geology, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. Including the histories thereof - read at least a few of the landmark works in primary form (
...Origin of Species, for instance). Also math at
least through Pre-Calc.
History: At the very least, a broad overview of Egyptian, Phoenician, Hebreaic, Heroic Age Greece, Roman Republic and Empire periods, and the history of Western Europe from the Dark Ages to today. Given current world events of the last decade, special focus on the origins of Islam, it's original spread and resistance thereto, and the origins of the newer more radical movements (Qutb particularly) are well worth getting a grounding in.
I'd personally suggest supplementing the above by finding some historical reenactors in your area and/or western martial artists and/or a modern soldier up on his doctrine and military history. Not necessarily for the art itself, but to better understand the mindset of the
people doing the fighting - since so much of human history
has been fighting, sadly.
Economics: Smith, Keynes,Marx/Engles, Friedman/Hayek - know at least the names and summarize their views.
Literature: Work through any 101 or 201 syllabus prior to 1960 or so... the Big Milestones are usually Beowulf, Chaucer, a couple Shakespeare plays and sonnets, maybe Milton or Donne or Spencer.. then a couple Romantics like Byron or Blake, and a 19th c. novel or three. I'm not overly fond of Dickens, but he was popular and gives a decent feel for the age. Maybe Doyle would be more fun.
Humanities: "History of Art" and "History of Music" 101 level.
In both literature and the humanities, I'd definitely stick with canons put together prior to the PC era. Not because there aren't great and important works done by people of all manner of minority status, but because you're looking for
fundamental milestones in the art - and modern canons frequently give short shrift to the latter so as to give more time to the former.
I'd also add - have at least one means of artistic expression. Doesn't matter if it's playing Blues guitar instead of Classical violin, or drawing Manga instead of Renoir copies, but have at least one artistic hobby. Just 'cause.
Law: don't know enough to give an opinion. But Roman law and the origins of Common Law (plus if you're American, a good working knowledge of the Constitution and the arguments on both sides leading up to it, along with being able to list the Bill of Rights (if not recite from memory)) should be in there.
Medicine: basic anatomy and first responder level of medical treatment
Physicality: Practice at least one sport or other physical endeavor... better if it has a cultural history with big names to know (be it Owens or Musashi) - but at least something.
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That's a "
off the top of my head for the bare basics of what it takes to call yourself a semi-educated human being" list.
At best, I'd add things like knowing Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, conversational knowledge of the "big names" of Classical and Biblical thought in their original language, church history from the 1st century through the Reformation and the resulting wars in Europe (because it DID shape much of Western thought for over a thousand years), foundational writings from Newton, Galileo, Hutton, Darwin, as well as Hobbes, Rousseau, Paine, Nietzsche, ... prolly others I'm forgetting. You'll note a lot of the people in that list would
hate each other and disagree vociferously about almost everything. That's on purpose.
A lot of this stuff you can find as "all you need to know about X" books in the discount rack at Barnes and Noble.. but know that what you read in those is sometimes simplified to the point of being misleading. So again we're back to the ... keep learning all your life. Forever.
One SUPERB resource we all have today is the sheer volume of GOOD lectures available online. YouTube is loaded with college courses in a wide variety of subjects - the resource material is often redacted for copyright reasons, but the lectures themselves are complete and amazing - check out Yale's channel on YouTube. And the TED talks, of course. I love the Juan Enriquez ones.
The last thing I'd add is more a personal note. There is no substitute for finding one person who argues
well against something you deeply believe and listening to their lectures online and/or simply having dinner with them.
How's that for a start?
PS... here's another guy's suggestions:
http://en.wikipedia....iki/Great_Books
Edited by KalaBeth, 11 January 2010 - 04:05 AM.