The Human Quest for Happiness and Meaning: Old and New Perspectives. Religious, Philosophical, and Literary Reflections from the Past as a Platform for Our Future – St. Augustine, Boethius, and Gautier de Coincy

Abstract

Despite much ignorance (deliberate and accidental) and neglect, pre-modern literature, philosophy, and theology continue to matter greatly for us today. The quest for human happiness is neverending, and each generation seems to go through the same process. But instead of re-inventing the proverbial wheel, we can draw on most influential and meaningful observations made already in late antiquity and the Middle Ages regarding how to pursue a good and hence a happy life. This paper examines the relevant treatises by St. Augustine and Boethius (late antiquity), and a religious tale by Gautier de Coincy (early thirteenth century). Each one of them already discussed at great length and in most convincing manner how human beings can work their way through false concepts and illusions and reach a higher level of epistemology and spirituality, expressed through the terms "happiness" and "goodness."

Reflections on Key Issues in Human Life: Gottfried von Strassburg’s Tristan, Dante’s Divina Commedia, Boccaccio’s Decameron, Michael Ende’s Momo, and Fatih Akın’s Soul Kitchen—Manifesto in Support of the Humanities—What Truly Matters in the End?

“…Next, I would like to present a variety of literary and also cinematographic examples from our own time and from the Middle Ages in order to illustrate how we can pragmatically handle the confrontation with a disgruntled public and an overly cost-sensitive bureaucracy and re-situate the humanities into the center of the academic universe, where they truly belong. I have addressed these questions already before in various other studies (e.g., Classen 2012aClassen , 2012bClassen , 2014aClassen , 2015Classen , 2016Classen , 2018aClassen , 2018bClassen , 2019a, and numerous colleagues have contributed to this ongoing discourse (Murdoch 2020;Münster 2020;Beal 2020), whereas here my intentions are to operate both with medieval and modern examples, including a courtly romance, a Renaissance collection of short tales, a twentieth-century novel for young readers, and a twenty-first-century movie. My critical keywords will be spirituality, transcendence, the essence of human life, purpose, dignity, and meaning.…”

“…At the risk of carrying the proverbial coals to Newcastle, let us review the problematic issues and delve into them more deeply, pursuing specifically moral and ethical arguments, especially within older literature. Over the past few years, I have repeatedly outlined specific strategies and analyses of how to explain the relevance of the humanities in light of medieval poetry, for instance (e.g., Classen 2017Classen , 2018aClassen , 2020b. Nonetheless, the challenges remain and continue to threaten our existence because there are many times that administrators are ready to put our field on the chopping block in order to find short-term and simple solutions to many of their own problems due to financial mismanagement, lavish athletic programs, overblown bureaucratic structures on the upper levels, and the general corporatization of the university, apart from general economic downturns or the government's declining interest in supporting post-secondary education.…”

On religious practices as multiscale active inference: Certainties emerging from recurrent interactions within and across individuals and groups

“…Religious practices also include sacred histories and narratives contained in sacred scriptures, as well as symbols, and holy places that aim at giving meaning to life (Augustine, 397 AD/1996;Burnaby, 2007;Brown 2007;Classen, 2018). The symbolic stories, sometimes held to be historically accurate, aim at offering a range of explanations for, e.g., the origin of life and the universe (Hick, 1988;Artigas, 1999;Berry and Berry, 2009;Hanley, Bennett and Ratcliffe, 2014;Peterson and Venema, 2021).…”

The Amazon Rainforest of Pre-Modern Literature: Ethics, Values, and Ideals from the Past for Our Future. With a Focus on Aristotle and Heinrich Kaufringer

“…I have investigated many of these issues already in a variety of critical studies, so I do not need to go into further details here as to pedagogical and interpretive methods and concepts (e.g., Classen 2014Classen , 2018c. We also do not need to question further whether the past really matters for us today, but we must learn better how to explain its true relevance for the present and future generation.…”