Lecture 1: Introduction Happiness, Wealth and Poverty

Lecture 1: Introduction Happiness, Wealth and Poverty Dr. Ann T. Orlando 17 January 2013

Outline • Syllabus Review • Paper Schedule • Homily Requirements • What is Happiness • Augustine, On the Happy Life

Happiness • Contemporary English and Philosophy • Greek • Philosophy • Bible • Latin

Contemporary Notions of Happiness • ‘Happiness,’ as Augustine says about time, “I know what it is until someone asks me to define it.” (Confessions, Book XI) • Possible components of happiness may be • Meaningfulness (satisfaction) • Contentment (pleasure) • Stability (tranquility) • Time scale • Moment to moment • Lifetime

Happiness: A State or an Emotion • Psychologists often think of happiness as rooted in the psychology of the individual, • Opposite of depression • Philosophers often think of happiness as a state of well being or flourishing • Value judgments about well-being • Social implications

Contemporary Theories of Happiness (well-being sense) • Hedonism: Pleasurable experiences • Desire: Getting what we want • Objective: Engaged in ‘good’ activities; based on value judgments • We take what is self-sufficient to be that which on its own makes life worthy of choice and lacking in nothing. We think happiness to be such, and indeed the thing most of all worth choosing, not counted as just one thing among others’ (Aristotle, NicomacheanEthics)

Croesus and the Cautionary Tale of Happiness • Croesus (595-547 BC), wealthiest of Greek kings in Asia Minor • Herodotus and others tells the tale of Croesus as prelude to Greek-Persian Wars • And as a cautionary tale of human hubris • Croesus in his wealth and seeming happiness, asked the wise man Solon who was the happiest of men • Solon responds there were three genuinely happy men: Tellus who died fighting for his country; and two brothers who died peacefully in their sleep after caring for their mother • Shortly after, the Persian King Cyrus conquers Croesus, and burns him on a large pyre • Solon’s adage: call no man happy while he lives

Socrates, Plato and Happiness • In early Platonic dialog Euthydemus, Socrates assumes everyone wants to be happy, and asks how to become happy • The desire to be happy is one of the few ‘self-evident’ truths that Socrates accepts • Questions of happiness further explored in Symposium (focused on individuals) and Republic focused on society • In Republic Socrates says Croesus might have been happy if he had looked to contemplation of wisdom rather than wealth and power for happiness

Aristotle on Happiness • Primarily addressed in NichomacheanEthics • Which begins by reminding readers of Croesus and Solon • Some external goods are necessary (but not sufficient) for happiness: good friends, children, money, health, physical beauty (1.73) • Without a sufficient amount of these one will be unhappy • Some of these are within one’s control through moral goodness (virtue) • But luck or fortune also has a role in providing the conditions for happiness • Given that the external conditions for happiness are met, a man can only be genuinely happy through contemplation (13.37-43)

Epicurus and Zeno the Stoic on Happiness • Epicurean notion of happiness • Absence of pain or mental anguish • To remove fear of eternal judgment, recognize that there is no life after death • Curb physical desires to what is easily attainable • Stoic notion of happiness • Accept lot in life ordained by Providence as witnessed by a life of virtue • Curb physical desires to what is provided by Providence • Example: Seneca On the Happy Life, one can be happy on the pyre, as Croesus should have been if he with fortitude had accepted his fate

Ancient Greek Understandings of Happiness • Eudaimonia: Good fortune, happy • Most common term in Greek philosophy; includes a sense of good luck • In Aristotle, this may be obtained through a good moral life • In Epicurus something one achieves through ataraxia, or mental tranquility • Makarios: Fortunate, happy, blessed • Often used in connection with happiness of the gods • In Aristotle the highest form of happiness • Not attainable by humans (who are only mortal) in Epicurus

Latin Words for Happiness • Felicitas: Happiness, good fortune, success (might be close to Greek eudaimonia) • Beatum: Happiness, blessedness (close to Greek makarios) • “The mere search for higher happiness, not merely its actual attainment, is a prize beyond all human wealth or honor or physical pleasure.” Cicero, from fragment of Hortensius • NB in English, happiness comes from Old Norse happ meaning random chance, for example, haphazard

Augustine, De Beata Vita • One of (the) earliest work extant from Augustine • Written 386/387 in Cassiciacum • Dialog with those on retreat with Augustine prior to their Baptism (see Confessions Book IX) • Written while he was also writing Against the Academics (Skeptics)

Structure of On the Happy Life • One Book, 36 paragraphs divided among 4 sections • Occasion is Augustine’s birthday party • 1.1-6 Is an introduction and a ‘cover letter’ to Theodore, a mutual friend of Augustine and Ambrose in Milan • 2.7-16 Beginning of the dialog first examining the anthropology of body and soul, then moving to the consideration of the happiness of body and soul • 3.17-22 Next day, the dialog continues; discussing the relation of God to human happiness • 4.23-36 Third day begins in the baths; a discussion of need and happiness; the Trinity and happiness.

Themes in The Happy Life • Opposition to skepticism • Happiness and friendship • Role of Monica • Early Trinitarian understanding of Augustine

Assignments • Augustine, “On the Happy Life,” translated Roland Teske in A Trilogy on Faith and Happiness. 2012: New City Press, New York. • Brown, Through the Eye of a Needle, Preface, Chapter 10 • Reread Augustine, Confessions VIII.7, the encounter with the ‘happy’ drunk • Write Short Paper

Lecture 1: Introduction Happiness, Wealth and Poverty