Winter 2023 Fundamental Questions Seminar: Sophocles’ Antigone

The seminar examined tragedy through Sophocles’ Antigone, taking as a starting point the lament, “For death is gain to him whose life, like mine, is full of misery,” and explored whether misery stemmed from meaninglessness or from clashing values, how duties to family, country, and religion conflicted, and how one preserved freedom and identity amid incompatible demands—asking what this ancient story of a young woman seeking to bury her brother revealed about modern life.

The event was part of Lumen Christi’s Fundamental Questions seminar, a quarterly reading group for University of Chicago undergraduates that fostered rigorous discussion of culturally resonant texts to help students recognize and articulate core existential concerns; it did not aim to supply answers but to cultivate the skills to frame them.

The seminar met three times in the quarter, with dinner served at 6:00 p.m. and discussion beginning at 6:15 p.m.