This course
revolves around one of the most important problems in the history of
philosophy---namely, the problem of happiness. Everyone wants to be
happy, though 
most of us would be hard-pressed to explain exactly what
happiness is.
During the
course of the semester, we will examine various ideas about the nature of
happiness developed by some of the greatest thinkers of the ancient
world. As you will quickly come to realize, many of these thinkers have radically
different and and even conflicting thoughts about what happiness is and how
it is to be acquired. By the end of the course, you may actually be
more confused about the topic than when you started. Fear not:
confusion is often the first step on the road to true wisdom!
As a
preliminary exercise for this course, I would like you to take a few moments
to reflect upon the nature of human existence. If you had to
describe what life is basically like in a few words, what would you come up
with?
