What do we need to know in order to live a happy life? This is the question Dr Brennan McDavid will try to answer in the lecture she will present next Thursday 7 April 2015, as part of the Greek History and Culture Seminar series, offered for the sixth consecutive year by the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM).

This is a question that Aristotle took very seriously and that inspired him to write many philosophical texts, including his famous ethical treatise, the Nicomachean Ethics. In that great work, Aristotle says the best human life is one which is lived in accordance with knowledge of the world.

Specifically, he means that the best life is that of a scientist or a philosopher, someone who inquiries into the deep mysteries of the cosmos, leading us to think that what we need to know in order to live the best life possible is just a lot of science or philosophy. But is that really all we need to know in order to be happy?

Dr. McDavid will press Aristotle’s theory with this question in order to determine just how valuable scientific or philosophical knowledge is, and what other knowledge we might need along the way.

Dr. Brennan McDavid is the Seymour Reader in Ancient History and Philosophy at Ormond College and Fellow of the University of Melbourne’s Philosophy Department where she teaches Greek Philosophy and Latin subjects.

Her research covers all covers of Aristotle’s thought, from science to epistemology to ethics, and she is presently working on a project that concerns Aristotle’s theory of moral knowledge and moral education. She received her Ph.D. in Philosophy from Princeton University and also holds a master’s degree in Classical Philology from the University of Arizona.

It has to be noted that this lecture will be at the Ithacan Philanthropic Society, Level 2 329 Elizabeth St, Melbourne

When: Thursday, 7 April, 7.00pm
Location: Ithacan Philanthropic Society, Level 2 329 Elizabeth St, Melbourne
Sponsors: Theodoros Sklavos and family in memory of Eleni Sklavos