Our Educational Approach
In JSP courses, students enter into debates about human nature, ethics, and the meaning of life that have unfolded over centuries and that have profoundly shaped the modern world. The texts we study include major works of philosophy, religion, history, and literature; seminal writings in the sciences and social sciences; works of art; and major political documents and speeches. They are works distinguished both by their depth of insight or creative originality and by their influence on subsequent thought or history. We take a global approach to the study of the Great Books, holding that no one region or civilization holds a monopoly on serious philosophical thought. JSP courses span the globe from East to West, as well as chronological eras, from early antiquity to the current day.
Jefferson Scholars Program courses approach great books not as historical curiosities, but as potential sources of wisdom and truth. They aim to engage students as directly as possible with the thought of the authors they are studying, relying as much as possible on primary texts.
Our courses are meant to encourage students to think rigorously about questions of central and enduring human concern, refusing to assume either that the questions are susceptible of definitive and final answers or that the questions are unanswerable, but instead, maintaining an open mind as to how far reasoned discourse may take us. Examples of the questions considered are: Do human beings share an essence or nature, and if so, what is it? Does life have a meaning? Are there universal truths, can they be known, and if so, how? What is the good life both for an individual and for a political community?
JSP courses aim to teach skills of close reading, careful interpretation, and critical thinking. We value ideological balance, openness, and civility, and we embrace intellectual diversity and freedom of thought. In JSP courses, students hone their capacities for civil discourse by learning how to engage respectfully and thoughtfully with those with whom they disagree.
What is a Core Text?
The texts we study include major works of philosophy, religion, history, and literature; seminal writings in the sciences and social sciences; works of art; and major political documents and speeches. They are works distinguished both by their depth of insight or creative originality and by their influence on subsequent thought or history. These texts are not the possession of any single nation, epoch, cultural tradition, or academic department. Each of them is, as Thucydides boldly but justly called his own work, “a possession for all time.”
Program Design
The four required areas are 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. Inviting students to enter into this dialogue, the program will train them 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.