Course Syllabus

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Instructor:       Dr. Albert Hernandez 

E-mail:             ahernandez@iliff.edu

Office Hours:  Dean's Office - by appointment

 

Course Synopsis:

This course provides a historical examination of key concepts, major questions, and practices about humanity’s search for happiness from the Hellenistic-Roman period of Antiquity through the Early Christian and Medieval periods. The content of the course centers on the role of Classical moral philosophy and Early Christian theology in the formulation of eudaemonic theories about the purpose of human life and the problem of happiness in the history of Christianity.

In contemporary culture, and especially after the 2008 global financial meltdown and the ensuing Great Recession, reflection and concern about this ancient philosophical and religious problem has resurfaced with widespread intensity across all sectors of society, including among leadership and organizational development training programs, economics and psychology, spirituality programs, and the myriad of books, videos and retreat programs being marketed by the so-called "self-help" industry.  

 

Books for the Course: 

Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics. Second Edition. Terence Irwin, Trans. Hackett Publishing, 1999. ISBN: 978-0872204642; PRICE RANGE: $3.00 to $15.00.

(NOTE-WELL: Any edition of these particular sections of Aristotle’s Ethics on Happiness and Virtue will be fine for your reading and our class discussions, including versions of this text available online.)

Thomas Aquinas. Treatise on Happiness. John A. Oesterle, Trans. University of Notre Dame Press, 1991.  ISBN: 978-268018499;  PRICE RANGE: $2.00 to $19.00.

(NOTE-WELL: Any edition of this particular section of Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae will be fine for your reading and our class discussions, including versions of this text available online.) 

R. W. Sharples, Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics: An Introduction to Hellenistic Philosophy. Routledge, 1996. ISBN: 978-0415110358; PRICE RANGE: $28.00 to $38.00. 

See Taylor Library's list of online book sellers for purchasing options.

Overview and Objectives

Evaluation

Policies And Services

Degree Learning Goals

Course Summary:

Date Details Due