Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Cultural Foundations: Invitation to Think
Other languages of instruction: Catalan, English
Teaching staff
Introduction
This course aims to promote the development of students' personal thinking on some of the life issues that most challenge them. This is an eminently practical course.
The challenge to think is achieved through personal writing in class based on each student's experience, reading texts in class, and engaging in dialogue with others based on these texts.
Objectives
Competencies:
- Analytical and synthetic skills: thinking.
- Comprehension skills: reading.
- Written communication: writing.
- Oral communication: expressing oneself.
- Critical and self-critical skills.
- Reflect in writing based on one's own life experience on central issues of human life.
Skills objectives: At the end of the course, the student should be able to:
- Think independently and write down what they have thought.
- Listen to other opinions, evaluate them, and learn from them.
- Present their opinions orally and listen to those of others.
Learning outcomes of the subject
Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of the course, the student should be able to:
- Write five essays accurately on the topics covered.
- Present at least one of these essays adequately in class.
- Publish the five essays written throughout the course on a personal blog, including a video presentation.
Syllabus
- Introduction to the course. The horizon of intellectual life. Daring to think and express oneself to be the protagonist of one's own life.
- The virtues of intellectual life. Thinking, reading, and writing: living. Writing and AI.
- Reading and speaking in public: Living a new life. Educating attention. Freedom and its caricatures. How to foster personal growth: creativity.
- Articulation of thought and life in writing. Learning to write. Writing as a way of clarifying what one thinks. Telling the truth: transparency. The desire for clarity and originality. Friendship. Communities of inquiry. Silence and solitude.
Teaching and learning activities
In person
Students must:
- Actively attend class sessions. They may supplement lectures by reading the book: Jaime Nubiola, vitación a pensar (Invitation to Think), Madrid, Rialp, 2009. Ebook: https://www.rialp.com/libro/invitacion-a-pensar_92715/edicion/ebook-118018/
- Gather their notes and reflections from the course in their Course Notebook.
- Write a biographical essay at home, complete four writing exercises in class, and orally present at least one of these texts in class.
- Publish a video presentation of their course experience on the website (max. 4 min.).
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
There will be no final exam: instead, you must submit the URL of your video presentation of your course experience (max. 4 min.) by November 17th and submit your Course Notebook with your notes and reflections developed throughout the course by November 24th.
The final grade will be distributed as follows:
- Essay and exercises (5): 50 %
- Final project (Notebook and video): 30 % (15% + 15%)
- Active participation in class: 20 %
The evaluation in the second session will follow the same criteria.
Bibliography and resources
Basic:
- J. Nubiola: Invitación a pensar. Madrid, Rialp, 2019, 3ª ed.
Complementary:
- J. Nubiola: Vivir, pensar, soñar, Rialp, Madrid, 2017, 248 pàgs.
- J. Nubiola: Pensadores de frontera, Rialp, Madrid, 2020, 166 pàgs.
- P. Graham. "Writes and Write-Nots", Blog personal, octubre 2024 [https://www.paulgraham.com/writes.html]
- C. Shirky: "Students Hate Them. Universities Need Them. The Only Real Solution to the A.I. Cheating Crisis". New York Times, 26 agosto 2025.