Department of History University of Michigan
History 291 Winter 2025
SYLLABUS
Course Title: History of Happiness Office Hours: Thurs. 2:30-3:30
Instructor: Juan Cole uniquename: jrcole
This exciting new course treats the history of discourses about happiness, focusing especially on four historical episodes. They are ancient Greek philosophy, contemporary positive psychology, Buddhism (and its interpretation in the light of positive psychology), and Sufism. The course seeks to understand what a range of human beings in history have thought happiness consists in, and how they sought to achieve it, and will to put these understandings in dialogue with contemporary positive psychology. The course considers not only virtue and positive emotions (affect) but also ethical action and practices of meditation and mindfulness. The course requires attendance at lecture and, when sectioned, at discussion sections. Class attendance is mandatory and required to pass the class. Students will keep a weekly journal recording their acts of altruism and thankfulness, write a weekly short poem or piece of flash fiction, and take a midterm and a final.
Fulfills requirements for History Minor in Global History, History of Medicine & Health, and Religion
Class Texts:
Carr, Alan. Positive psychology: the science of happiness and human strengths (New York: Routledge, 2011).
Carrithers, Michael. Buddha: A Very Short Introduction. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001) via Mirlyn.
Ernst, Carl. Sufism: An Introduction to the Mystical Tradition of Islam (Boulder, Co.: Shambhala, 2011).
Hanson, Rick. Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom (Harbinger Press, 2011) (via Mirlyn).
Rumi, Jalal al-Din. Trans. Coleman Barks et al. The Essential Rumi (San Francisco: Harper, 1995).
Online Resources:
How to Write a Haiku (Writing CooperativeJuan Cole, "How to Write a Rubaiyat"
Jan. 9 Orientation
PART I: MODERN PSYCHOLOGY AND WELL-BEING
Jan. 14 Freud and the Unconscious
Nicky Hayes, "The Unconscious Mind: Freud and Psychoanalysis," A Little History of Psychology
Jan. 16 Jung and Adler
du Toit, D.H., du Toit, S. (2019). Giving Positive Psychology Interventions Depth: A Jungian Approach. In: Van Zyl, L., Rothmann Sr., S. (eds) Theoretical Approaches to Multi-Cultural Positive Psychological Interventions. Springer, Cham.
Jan. 21 No Class
Jan. 23 Maslow and Humanist Psychology
Nickey Hayes, "The Humanist Movement," A Little History of Psychology
Jan. 28 Positive Psychology
Nickey Hayes, "From Helplessness to Optimism: Seligman and the Establishment of Positive Psychology," A Little History of PsychologyCarr, Positive Psychology, 1-2
PART II: HAPPINESS, BRAIN NEUROPLASTICITY, AND EASTERN TRADITIONS
Jan. 30 Suffering and Happiness
Hanson, Buddha’s Brain, Chaps. 1-3Carrithers, Buddha, chap. 1
Feb. 4 Happiness
Hanson, Buddha’s Brain, 4-6Carrithers, Buddha, chap. 2
Buddha, Dhammapada,
Feb 6 Equanimity and Love
Hanson, Buddha’s Brain, Chaps. 7-8Carrithers, Buddha, chap. 3
Feb 11 Compassion and Kindness
Hanson, Buddha’s Brain, Chaps. 9-10Carrithers, Buddha, chap. 4
Buddha, Karuniya Metta Sutta
Feb 13 Wisdom
Hanson, Buddha’s Brain, Chaps. 11-13Carrithers, Buddha, chap. 5
Buddha, Dhammapada, 14
PART II: THE CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHY OF HAPPINESS
Feb 18 Greek Conceptions of Happiness: Socrates and Plato
S. Dhiman, "Being Good and Being Happy: Eudaimonic Well-Being Insights from Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle", 2021. Read sections on Socrates and Plato. Plato, EuthydemusFeb. 20 Aristotle
S. Dhiman, "Being Good and Being Happy: Eudaimonic Well-Being Insights from Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle", 2021. Read section on Aristotle.
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1.
Feb. 25 Review toward the Exam
Feb. 27 Midterm
Mar. 11 Stoics and Hedonists
Christopher W. Gowan, "Epicureanism" in Self-cultivation philosophies in ancient India, Greece and China
S. Dhiman, "More than Happiness: A Stoic Guide to Human Flourishing," 2021.
PART III: SUFISM AS A SPIRITUAL TRADITION: THE OTHER HELLENISM
Mar 13 What is Sufism?
Ernst, Sufism, chaps. 1-2Mar 18 Hellenism and Sufi PoetrySeyyed Hossein Nasr, “Happiness and the Attainment of Happiness: An Islamic Perspective,” 29 The Journal of Law and Religion 76 (2014)
Knysh, Sufism, chap. 4
Ernst, Sufism, chap. 6
Mar 20 Sufi Practice
Ernst, Sufism, chapter 3Mar. 25 Sufi Orders, Positivity and Wisdom
Pasha-Zaidi, N., Al-Seheel, A., Bridges-Lyman, K., Dasti, R. (2021). "Gratitude and Wellbeing: Cultivating Islamically-Integrated Pathways to Health and Wellness." In: Pasha-Zaidi, N. (eds) Toward a Positive Psychology of Islam and Muslims. Cross-Cultural Advancements in Positive Psychology, vol 15. Springer, Cham.
Rumi, Essential Rumi
Cry out in your Weakness, pp. 156-157
Ali in Battle, 223-224
Ernst, Sufism, chap. 5
Essential Rumi
The Three Fish, pp. 194-197
Nazila Isgandarova, "Muraqaba as a Mindfulness-Based Therapy in Islamic Psychotherapy," Journal of Religion and Health (2019) 58:1146–1160.
Polishing the Mirror, p. 222
Mar. 27 Love, Romance and Humanity
Ernst, Sufism, chap. 7
Rumi, Essential RumiTwo Ways of Running, 178-180
Solomon Poems, pp. 186-190
Send the Chaperones Away, pp. 198-199
The King and the Handmaiden, pp. 225-232
William Chittick, "Love in Islamic Thought," Religion Compass 8/7 (2014): 229–238.Video: Nusret Fateh Ali Khan, "Dam Mast Qalandar"
Apr. 1 Optimism, Mindfulness, Creativity
Rumi, Essential RumiChinese Art and Greek Art, pp. 121-122
S. Haque Nizamie et al. , "Sufism and mental health," Indian J Psychiatry. 2013 Jan; 55(Suppl 2): S215–S223.
Father Reason, pp. 145-146
Body Intelligence, pp. 150-152
Apr 3 Justice
Radha D’Souza, "What Can Activist Scholars Learn from Rumi?" Philosophy East and West, Volume 64, Number 1, January 2014, pp. 1-24.
PART IV: POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Apr 8 Hope
Carr, Positive Psychology, 3
Apr. 10 FLow
Carr, Positive Psychology, 4
Apr. 15 Wisdom and Creativity
Carr, Positive Psychology, 5-6
Apr. 17 Coping and Relationships
Carr, Positive Psychology, 7-8
Apr. 22 Review toward the Exam.
Academic Integrity Policy: History 291 follows the academic integrity guidelines set forth by the College of LSA and the History Department. Students should familiarize themselves with both of these documents, which explain the standards of academic integrity and clarify the prohibited forms of academic misconduct. Students in History 241 should utilize the Chicago Manual of Style Online for all issues of source citation, along with any specific guidelines provided in the course assignments. Clarifying the disciplinary standards of research ethics and source citation is part of the educational mission of this course, and students should consult the faculty instructor and/or GSI regarding any questions. The penalties for deliberate cases of plagiarism and/or other forms of academic misconduct are a failing grade on the assignment. Cases that the instructor judges to be particularly serious, or those in which the student contests the charge of academic misconduct, will be handled by the office of the Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Education. All cases of deliberate academic misconduct that result in formal sanctions of any kind will be reported to the dean’s office, as required by LSA policy, which also ensures due process rights of appeal for students.
Syllabus online here: http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Ejrcole/syl/war/syl390.html
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