Stupidity: A Reading List - by Ted Gioia

Okay, she lets students skip Kant’s The Critique of Pure Reason in its entirety, and issues a governor’s reprieve on (her lover) Heidegger’s Being and Time. But she serves up ample doses of Hegel, Wittgenstein, Plato, Merleau-Ponty, and Aristotle.

I’ve read most of these books, and won’t dispute the benefits. But it took me decades to gain a mastery of the canonic texts—I’m a slow reader. Finally in my early 40s, I started to feel a command of the tradition, and had some confidence in how I applied it in my own life.

The single best thing you can learn in college is stupidity. Currently it’s just an (extremely popular) extracurricular. But they really should turn it into a major—Stupidity Studies.

Today I’ll step forward as your esteemed Professor of Stupidity. (Can I put that on my LinkedIn profile?) Below is my stupid reading list—designed for a twelve week course.

It may not be as daunting as Auden’s and Arendt’s list. But even stupidity will still take you a few months to learn. There are no shortcuts on the fool’s road.

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