In this course, we examine the foundations of ‘the good life’ as they surface in Danish and Continental European philosophy, with a particular focus on human freedom, authenticity, and the search for meaning, fulfillment, and happiness. While external conditions may bring satisfaction, as in a well-functioning state like Denmark, we turn our attention deeper towards internal measures of human flourishing.
The two sections of this course will both use Søren Kierkegaard’s Copenhagen as our primary meeting place to begin asking questions around the makings of the good life, but each will take these questions in slightly different directions, reading from different thinkers and venturing down separate paths before arriving back together at the greatest questions of humanity.
We may travel along different paths and we may not all settle with a common agreement on life’s purpose, but, together, whether in Denmark, Greece, or France, we do all partake in an age-old pilgrimage in search of the good life.
This course includes a mandatory study tour to either the French Riviera, where hiking in the footsteps of philosophers will be a major aspect of the tour program, or to Athens and Delphi, where you will study the good life in the mythical landscape of ancient Greece.
Please know that the section travelling to the French Riviera places a strong focus on hiking in nature and you should be prepared to go on two-to-three hikes in relatively hilly terrain and a warm, summer Mediterranean climate. These hikes should take a maximum of three hours each.
Long Study Tour
About this tour
On this week-long Study Tour, we follow the question of the good life from Copenhagen to the mythical landscapes of Greece, expanding our classroom to include the legendary settings of Athens and Delphi. It is from here that Western philosophy originates, born from the ancient Greeks who were deeply concern with the multifaced question of what it means for a human to live a good life.
Our inquiry will draw from our senses as we incorporate the art, architecture, philosophy, myth, and poetry of Greece into our studies. Covering topics from the ancient art of stoic joy to reflections on love, beauty, and the art of dwelling, we will take full advantage of the embodied experience of Greece and its sacred places, temples, and theaters.
We will visit the very sites where Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and the Stoics once lived and taught the Athenian people. In these locations, you fully appreciate how their ideas still inform and inspire our modern minds and our aspirations to live a meaningful life, a life well lived. Our search will culminate in a pilgrimage to the slopes of Mount Parnassus and the legendary oracle in Delphi. Known to the Greeks as the center of the world, the sacred grounds of Delphi will serve as the backdrop for our final reflections on the good life and a concluding symposium as the sun sets over the Corinthian Bay.
Learning outcomes
Gain an appreciation for the ideas born here in Greece through sensory and full-bodied experiences of the very sites where the search for the good life is coined in the European imagination
Question why we human beings do what we do and live as we live, and reflect on notions of the good life for a modern individual
Experience how abstract philosophical concepts come alive through physical sights, sounds, and tastes, as you discover first-hand the embodied experience of the art of dwelling and resonating ideas on the good life
Possible activities
Visit the Acropolis, the iconic landmark of Athens, and the Parthenon, the most lavish temple the Greek mainland had ever seen, dating back more than 2400 years
Immerse yourself in the art of dwelling with a view of the Aegean Sea at The Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, the southernmost point of Attica
Walk the streets of the Ancient Agora, where thinkers, artists, poets and playwrights once strolled and visit the place where Socrates drew his final breath
Breathe in the soothing air on the slopes of Mount Parnassus and sip the water from the Castalian spring as you enter the sacred grounds of Delphi, once the center of the ancient Greek world, where kings and sages would journey from afar to consult the oracle of Delphi for guidance and advice
About this tour
On this week-long Study Tour, our classroom now moves to the French Riviera and Provence along the southern coast of France, as we follow this course’s authors, thinkers, and artists in search of the good life. People drawn to the Mediterranean are, like their “Nordic” counterparts, known for cultivating the art of living, though in contrasting ways. Some writers saw northern Europe as the land of the cold philosopher kings, while Mediterranean civilization embodied for them the pursuit of well-being. While modern humans can seem out of touch with lived life, bound up in representational modes of thinking and instrumental ways of engaging the world, southern France inspires a rare ability to capture a raw and genuine experience of bodily encounter with the world.
Our pilgrimage takes us to the beautiful Alpes-Maritimes city of Nice, originally founded by the Greeks, and refuge to artists and thinkers since the nineteenth century. Excursions to the east and west, including cities bursting with university life, idyllic coastal towns, and secluded mountain villages, permit us to visit the sites where nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophers, writers, and artists sought solitude and rejuvenation, where they lived and wrote, and, not least, where they loved and died.
Learning outcomes
Experience with our own bodies and minds the places that inspired the authors in our course, including the actual locales where their writings and artworks were conceived and created, also by experimenting for ourselves through writing/drawing exercises in situ
Hike in the footsteps of those who believed physical exertion could breathe life into ancient questions about human flourishing, while taking in spectacular views over the Mediterranean and along remote Alpine trails
Experience the silence and peacefulness characteristic of the Alpine-Mediterranean region thought by many to be essential to the ability to live in the moment and to reflections on the good life
Possible activities
Hike along with Friedrich Nietzsche on the rocky coastal path near Nice that inspired his “Thus Spoke Zarathustra,” where he claimed he could hike all day, regenerating himself and never tiring
Experience the charming Provence village of Lourmarin, situated at the foot of a mountain range, where Albert Camus lived the last years of his life and wrote his final, posthumously published work, “The First Man,” before his untimely death at the age of 46
Visit Provence’s oldest Renaissance Château, where Camus stayed with fellow writers in isolated Spartan rooms that spooked him at night, still run today as a residence for writers, artists, and musicians
Following Simone de Beauvoir, hike to a remote Grotto set in a mountain ridge in Bouche-du-Rhône, one of the most ancient pilgrimage sites in the world, as the rumored refuge of Mary Magdalene, today a sanctuary held by Dominican friars
Visit the Chagall Museum, stroll along the Promenade des Anglais, take in the sights from Castle Hill, enjoy delicious fare, and bask in the ideal climate of the city of Nice, France’s magical doorway between the Alps and the Mediterranean
Faculty
Cæcilie Varslev-Pedersen
PhD (Philosophy, New School for Social Research, 2021). Instructorship, University of Copenhagen, 2022-present. External lecturer, Roskilde University, 2019-2022. Teaching Fellow, The New School, 2018. With DIS since 2023.
Jakob Due Lorentzen
Ph.D. in Philosophy and Aesthetics, Aarhus University, 2021. Cand.Mag. in Philosophy, University of Copenhagen, 2004. M.A. in Philosophy, Stony Brook University, 2002. Program Director, European Humanities, DIS, 2007-2017. Program Director, Communication, DIS, 2008-2013. External Lecturer of Philosophy, Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre, University of Copenhagen. With DIS since 2006.
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