Program Overview

Certificate Program in Core Texts and Ideas

The Certificate Program in Core Texts and Ideas is an introduction to the liberal arts through the study of the great books. It is open to all UT undergraduates and will complement any major with an integrated sequence of six courses that can also meet UT general education requirements. The program consists of four prescribed courses and two electives, all based on great books and other primary texts.

Program Requirements

In the required courses, students will study:

• Classical philosophy and literature, especially from ancient Greece
• Texts of major world religions, including the Hebrew Bible and New Testament
• The tradition of political philosophy in the West from Aristotle to Nietzsche
• The principles of American government as they were debated by the framers of the Constitution and as they have played out in subsequent American political life

Elective Courses

Elective courses are available in philosophy, literature, the arts, history, the social sciences, the history and philosophy of science and mathematics, the great books of the East, and other subjects.

Program Structure

The program is designed to acquaint students with many of the most powerful ideas of the human mind and especially of western civilization as it emerged out of its twin roots in Jerusalem and Athens and developed through centuries of deep reflection on and debate about human nature, the meaning of life, and man’s place in the cosmos. Through this sequence of courses, students will find that books from many cultures, epochs, and fields of study are engaged in an ongoing, mutually enlightening, but often fiercely contested conversation about the meaning of life, the power and reach of human knowledge, and the fundamental principles of ethics and politics.

Core Texts and Ideas

The program will train students in writing, critical reasoning, and questioning; it will encourage them to think in an interdisciplinary way; and it will give them a perspective on and a capacity to respond thoughtfully to the urgent challenges and conflicts of our own time.

UT Core Requirements

Through the six courses of the Core Texts and Ideas program, students can satisfy the following UT core requirements:

• First-year Signature Course (UGS 302 or 303)
• Writing (any course carrying the writing flag)
• American and Texas Government (GOV 312P)
• United States History (see Qualifying Course List)
• Social and Behavioral Sciences (CTI 302)
• Visual and Performing Arts (CTI 301G, CTI 350)

Fundamental Questions

Students will begin by exploring two rival visions of the best life that have shaped our own tradition of great books in the West, one exemplified in the reverent faith of Abraham and the other in the skeptical questioning of Socrates. They will consider different answers to the questions of where and whether definitive guidance for human life is to be found, what the proper place is of religion in human life, and what the proper relation is between religious and political authorities.

Themes and Texts for the Four Required Courses

The four required courses are:

1. Ancient Philosophy and Literature: This course introduces students to some of the greatest works of ancient Greece, the cradle of the ideal of political liberty, or republicanism, and likewise of the ideal of the liberty of the mind, embodied in the daring and unprecedented enterprise of philosophy, which sought to find guidance for life in unassisted human reason.
2. Fundamental Texts of World Religions: Several courses are available to fulfill this requirement. In each of them, students will reflect on the fundamental ethical and theological teachings of the texts and the different ways they have been interpreted and applied by the communities they have inspired.
3. History of Political Thought: This course focuses on the ongoing dialogue in Western thought about rights, political legitimacy, the proper functions and limits of government, and the principles that should govern international relations.
4. America’s Constitutional Principles: This course includes the ideas of equality and liberty, individual rights, and the proper ends and limits of governmental power. Common readings for this course will be the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, and Tocqueville’s Democracy in America.

Program Benefits

The program is offered to undergraduates in all colleges of the University. Students interested in pursuing the CTI Certificate Program within an integrated learning community may apply to the Jefferson Scholars Program. The program will provide students with a perspective on and a capacity to respond thoughtfully to the urgent challenges and conflicts of our own time. It will also train students in writing, critical reasoning, and questioning, and encourage them to think in an interdisciplinary way.