Special Great Books program for Freshmen

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University of Texas at Austin

The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”—Socrates Photo: 123RF

a selective, interdisciplinary program for highly motivated freshmen and sophomores in every college and major of the University As a UT undergraduate, you are required to take core courses in the arts, humanities, social sciences, history, and government, intended to provide the essentials of a liberal education. You can treat these courses just as a chore to be gotten out of the way, but you don’t have to.

Are you content to be confined by the thoughtless prejudices of your own time and place . . . and would you know it if you were? Or would you like to grapple with great thinkers’ radically different answers to questions about human nature, justice, God, happiness, knowledge, and the meaning of life?

The Thomas Jefferson Center An Education for Liberty—You are young, talented, and the world lies before you. No one else can decide for you how you should use the unprecedented freedom we enjoy in America. Reflect on what freedom is, when and why it is good, and how you might best take advantage of it.

Photo: 123RF

An Education for Leaders in Every Field—Learn what great leadership is all about. Learn to ask the questions no one else is asking, but should be. Explore the deepest needs and passions that motivate people. Reflect upon where we should be going as a people, and what it might take to get us there.

Are you content with a superficial smattering of liberal arts survey courses? Or would you like to challenge yourself by engaging in a sustained study of the fundamental debates and ideas that have driven human history?

An Education for Life—Have great conversations. Make friends with fascinating people. Think about what you really believe in, and what you really want to accomplish in this one life you have to live.

The Jefferson Scholars Program The Jefferson Scholars Program is a challenging, six-course integrated sequence in the great books and ideas of the ancient, medieval, and modern worlds. Taught by stellar faculty and including extensive opportunities for discussion and practice in writing, this program allows students to meet six UT core requirements while earning the Certificate in Core Texts and Ideas, which will be recognized on their transcript at graduation. First semester:

Justice, Human and Divine CTI 304 The Bible and Its Interpreters (carries UT Writing Flag) CTI 303 Classics of Political and Social Thought (satisfies UT Social Science requirement) Together these two courses will examine some of history’s most profound reflections on good and evil, on human nature and the character of human excellence, on whether there is a God and what can be known about him, and on the principles that should guide our collective lives as political communities. Second semester:

Freedom, Ancient and Modern UGS 303 Discovery of Freedom (satisfies UT Signature Course requirement) HIS 317L Era of the American Revolution (partially satisfies UT American History requirement) These two courses will explore the meaning of freedom and the promises and challenges of self-government as they were first explored in the free city-states and the philosophical debates of ancient Greece, and as they were taken up in a new spirit by those who made the American Revolution.

Third semester:

Leaders and Leadership

Photo: iStockPhoto

GOV 312P America’s Constitutional Principles (partially satisfies UT United States Government requirement) CTI 350 Masterworks of World Drama (satisfies UT Fine Arts requirement) The third semester includes an intensive study of the US Constitution, the vision of justice and liberty that it embodies, and some of the leaders and movements that have subsequently worked to realize that vision. Paired with this course is a study of classic plays from antiquity to the present, with a focus on the theme of just and effective leadership. In these courses you’ll read original works by many of the greatest writers and thinkers, including Aeschylus, Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, Aquinas, Shakespeare, Luther, Hobbes, Locke, the American Founders, Tocqueville, Nietzsche, and more.

A Rich Intellectual Community The Jefferson Center is a community of scholars and students who share a love of the great books and thoughtful conversation. Jefferson Scholars will get to know professors over lunch and fellow students at coffee hours, informal book discussions, and organized outings to plays, classical music concerts, jazz clubs, and museums. Both inside and outside of class, Jefferson scholars can thus enjoy the benefits of a small liberal arts college within a large university setting. Photos: Wikimedia

Apply Now Admission to the Jefferson Scholars Program is by application only. The priority deadline for fall 2014 is April 1, 2014. The final deadline is May 1, 2014.

For more information: Website: www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/coretexts/ Phone: 512-471-6648 Lorraine Pangle, Co-Director: [email protected]

Photos: Top, Marsha Miller. Bottom, Jacquelyn Walker

Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas University of Texas at Austin

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