Lectures at the Cusanus Foundation

Experience philosophy at the Cusanus-Stift: Six inspiring lectures on happiness, life, loneliness, and wisdom.

Friday, March 20, 2026
What is good governance?
Spirit and power in Plutarch (Cod. Cus. 177)

Friday, March 27, 2026
Can one learn to die?
Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy (Wiegendruck 62)

We are pleased to welcome you to the lectures in the Baroque Hall of the Cusanus Institute, followed by an engaging discussion over a glass of wine. Musical accompaniment: Margret Koch.

The manuscripts and prints on the respective topics will be presented during the lectures.

Speaker: Simeon Elias Hüttel M.A., Librarian of the Cusanus Institute

What makes a good and fulfilling life? Is there even such a thing as a truly blissful existence? Just as one swallow does not make a summer, as Aristotle once remarked, neither does a day or a brief time make anyone happy or blessed.
The question of a successful human existence has engaged us not only today. Western philosophy has been grappling with a proper "theory of right living" since antiquity. The library of the Cusanus Institute in Bernkastel-Kues houses some of the most significant and fascinating works written regarding this question. Can the thinkers of antiquity and the Renaissance help us gain a clearer perspective on the pressing issue of our way of life?
How can friendships be cultivated, for example? How should we shape our civic coexistence? How to deal with loneliness? How with death? Together, we embark on a journey through the history of philosophy, in search of possible guides to a good life...