(Collage by Joy Olivia Miller, source illustration by Robert Fludd, 1617, public domain)
Fundamentals students ask fundamental questions.
Socrates had questions: What is virtue? What is the good? What is justice?
Freud had questions: What is happiness? Can humans be happy?
And so do the undergraduates majoring in fundamentals: issues and texts. As the program’s website states, “Genuine questions cannot be assigned to a student; they must arise from within.” Each fundamentals student chooses a question, then designs a reading list to try to answer it over the next three years.
Here’s a sampling of what current fundamentals students are trying to figure out.
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/hr.png)
Why do bad things happen to good people?
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/1705_Golus_Fundamentals_spotA.jpg)
(Source illustration by Burger, published by De Ruyter & Meijer in 1881, public domain)
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/hr.png)
Why do we read tragedy?
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/1705_Golus_Fundamentals_spotB.jpg)
(Source painting by Cornelis Kruseman, public domain)
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/hr.png)
What does it mean to be normal?
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/1705_Golus_Fundamentals_spotC.jpg)
(Source illustration courtesy the New York Public Library Digital Collections, public domain)
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/hr.png)
How do we define success?
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/1705_Golus_Fundamentals_spotD.jpg)
(Source sculpture courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cesnola Collection, public domain)
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/hr.png)
What is beauty?
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/1705_Golus_Fundamentals_spotE.jpg)
(Source illustration by Félix Bracquemond, published by Auguste Delâtre in 1865, public domain)
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/hr.png)
What follows postmodernity?
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/1705_Golus_Fundamentals_spotF.jpg)
(Source etching courtesy the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Austrian National Library, public domain)
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/hr.png)
What’s surprising?
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/1705_Golus_Fundamentals_spotG.jpg)
(Source sculpture courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Lesley and Emma Sheafer Collection, public domain)
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/hr.png)
Why do some people “give up” and others “keep going”?
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/1705_Golus_Fundamentals_spotH.jpg)
(Source artwork by John Gould, courtesy the New York Public Library, Rare Book Division, public domain)
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/hr.png)
Why do we laugh?
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/1705_Golus_Fundamentals_spotI.jpg)
(Source sculpture courtesy the Rijksmuseum, public domain)
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/hr.png)
What is power?
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/1705_Golus_Fundamentals_spotJ.jpg)
(Source painting by Benjamin West, courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Maria DeWitt Jesup Fund, public domain)
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/hr.png)
Should I be selfish?
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/1705_Golus_Fundamentals_spotK.jpg)
(Source engraving by Jacob Matham Avarice, courtesy the Rijksmuseum, public domain)
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/hr.png)
What is opinion?
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/1705_Golus_Fundamentals_spotL.jpg)
(Source print by Louis Marin Bonnet, published by François Vivares, courtesy the Rijksmuseum, public domain)
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/hr.png)
What is great learning?
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/1705_Golus_Fundamentals_spotM.jpg)
(Source illustration by Robert Fludd, 1617, public domain)
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/hr.png)
What is the relationship between guilt and pleasure?
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/1705_Golus_Fundamentals_spotN.jpg)
(Source illustration from l'illustration Européenne, 1871, public domain)
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/hr.png)
Why are we afraid of aliens?
![](http://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/1705_Golus_Fundamentals_spotO.jpg)
(Source etching by Jan Luyken, public domain)