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Thursday evenings: February 8, 15, 22, March 1, 8, 15, 22, 29

Time:  6:30-8:30 pm

Venue: St Michael's and All Angels' Church, 1331 Mt. Dandenong Tourist Road
Kalorama, 3766 (http://www.lightinthehills.org.au/church-sites.html

Prices:  waged $120 (eight lectures) unwaged/concession $80 (eight lectures); single classes $25 (waged); $20 (unwaged)

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What is happiness, and how do we achieve it?  What is the best way of life?  What are the most important things we should be pursuing?

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Philosophy today has largely become a specialised academic study closed to the wider concerns of people and the world.  But it was not always so.  The ancient Greeks and Romans thought that philosophical reflection could be a guide for life, helping people through the good and the hard times we face, and even prescribing practical exercises to help alleviate grief or anxiety, and to cultivate friendship, joy and peace of mind.  This course will introduce students to the philosophies of life of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus and the Stoics.  We will then look at how these ideas were again taken up in the modern world, and how they are being widely retaken up today.

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WEEK 1: INTRODUCTION: ADVERSITY, PROSPERITY, STRENGTH

WEEK 2: THE NEED FOR TRUTH

WEEK 3: THE HAPPY LIFE (CONSTANCY, BREVITY, TRANQUILITY)

WEEK 4: ANGER AND GRIEF

WEEK 5: THERAPEUTIC SCEPTICISM

WEEK 6: LOVE AND SCEPTICISM

WEEK 7: LOVE AND PESSIMISM

WEEK 8: OLD AGE AND DYING