What is The Great Conversation?

The Great Conversation is a term that refers to an ongoing dialogue between the greatest thinkers of Western civilization. This dialogue spans many centuries and encompasses a wide range of fields, including philosophy, literature, science, art, and politics.

The concept of the Great Conversation was popularized by the philosopher Robert Hutchins, who argued that education should be centered around the study of the great works of Western civilization. According to Hutchins, the Great Conversation is a dialogue that has been going on for over two thousand years, and which continues to this day.

The Great Conversation is not limited to any one culture or time period, but rather includes a diverse range of voices and perspectives. It includes works by Plato, Aristotle, Shakespeare, Descartes, Kant, and many others, each of whom contributed to the ongoing dialogue that is the Great Conversation.

The Great Books of the Western World represent an attempt to document and integrate the works of these great thinkers.  By studying these works, students and scholars can better understand the history of ideas and how they have shaped our understanding of the world. Additionally, The Great Conversation encourages critical thinking and reflection, helping individuals to develop their own ideas and perspectives.

What is The Great (AI) Conversation?

I’ve always wanted to read The Great Books and guide my own “classical” education, but I’ve always been too busy.  Today’s nascent (and quickly growing) set of AI tools looks as if it will provide an opportunity for me to finally get at these classics via my own AI-enabled “conversation.”

That’s what The Great (AI) Conversation is: a project in AI-based tutoring.

AI, as a language model, is capable of analyzing and understanding a wide range of texts, including many (if not all) of the great works of Western civilization.  It can summarize, answer questions, provide explanations, and even engage in discussions with about the ideas and themes that emerge from these works.  This project will take advantage of that using the OpenAI ChatGPT tool (currently GPT 4.0, as of May 2023).

The project will use AI as a tutor for understanding The Great Conversation.  My goal is to develop a series of specific prompts which can be used to analyze individual works and begin my own computer-guided discussion.  Will it work? I have no idea.  My goal is simply to see what the AI tutor can produce and discover what I can learn in the process.

And, of course, as AI tools improve over time, I will have the opportunity to integrate them into the project as I keep abreast of developments in AI-based tutoring.