Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults: YEAR 1

COURSES > LIFELONG | COURSES > ONLINE [→ ONLINE ARCHIVE MATERIAL]

Founded in 1946, the University of Chicago’s Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults is a structured, four-year, non-credit curriculum in which students read and discuss the classics of the Western traditions under the guidance of experienced staff instructors. Readings span ancient Greece and ancient Israel to modern Europe and America and include works of philosophy, drama, fiction, poetry, politics, and history. These works present a variety of perspectives on enduring human questions, such as: What is justice and how can we best achieve it? What does it mean to live a good human life? What is truth, does it exist, and how do we find it?

Texts *

AUTUMN SEMINAR

  • Sophocles, Antigone
  • Plato, Apology / Crito
  • Dostoevsky, Crime & Punishment

AUTUMN TUTORIAL

  • Plato, Meno

WINTER SEMINAR

  • Herodotus, The History
  • Aeschylus, Oresteia

WINTER TUTORIAL

  • Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics

SPRING SEMINAR

  • Machiavelli, The Prince
  • Hobbes, Leviathan
  • Kant,  Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals
  • Conrad, Heart of Darkness

SPRING TUTORIAL

  • Bible (Genesis, Job, Matthew)
  • Kierkegaard, Fear & Trembling

* THE READING LIST HAS VARIED SLIGHTLY OVER THE YEARS.


Archive


More

    TAUGHT: 1993-PRESENT