Aristotle is reasonable because (1) logic and (2) it's going to be a core part of any Great Books curriculum so it's part of the core as opposed to specifically

Aristotle is reasonable because (1) logic and (2) it's going to be a core part of any Great Books curriculum so it's part of the core as opposed to specifically "mathematics". But if you're going to read Aristotle and Russell with the justification "logic", you must include Goedel and Hilbert. Agree on Descartes and Darwin, but they're both sort of canonical in Great Books reading lists. Honestly not sure why Descartes is considered so important to the history of ideas, particularly in Mathematics where there are so many other very worthy minds and texts to study, but shrugs.