Lectures at the Cusanus Foundation

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

Program:

Friday, November 21, 2025
"...but like a sleep". - Socrates' thoughts on death
Plato's dialogue Phaedo (Cod. Cus. 117)

Friday, December 12, 2025
What is happiness?
Aristotle's Ethics (Cod. Cus. 179)

Friday, January 23, 2026
"I know that I know nothing!"
The defense of Socrates (Cod. Cus. 177)

Friday, February 20, 2026
What is solitude good for?
Petrarch's De Vita Solitaria (Cod. Cus. 53)

Friday, March 20, 2026
What is good governance?
Mind 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 related to the respective topics will be presented during the lectures.

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

What constitutes a good and successful life? Does a truly blissful existence even exist? Just as one swallow doesn’t make a summer, Aristotle once remarked, neither does a day or a short time make anyone happy or blessed.
The question of a fulfilling human existence has occupied us for a long time. Western philosophy has been grappling with a proper "theory of the right art of living" since ancient times. The library of the Cusanus Institute in Bernkastel-Kues houses some of the most important and fascinating works written regarding this question. Can the thinkers of antiquity and the Renaissance help us gain a clearer view of the pressing problem of our way of life?
How can friendships be cultivated, for example? How should we shape our civic life together? How to deal with loneliness? How with death? Together, we embark on a journey of discovery through the history of philosophy, in search of possible guides to a good life...