Our pursuit of happiness: from the founders to today
We explore how the pursuit of happiness has evolved in America with constitutional law scholar Jeffrey Rosen and cognitive scientist Laurie Santos.
Listen 51:00
As we get ready to mark the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, what did the founders mean when they included the pursuit of happiness in the Declaration of Independence? What does happiness mean today? Does our current pursuit of happiness undermine our sense of wellbeing, leading paradoxically to unhappiness. What’s a better way to feel good about who we are and how we live?
This week on The Connection, we look at the pursuit of happiness, then and now.
We begin with Jeffrey Rosen, CEO emeritus of The National Constitution Center and author of The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America. He argues the founders drew inspiration about happiness from Greek and Roman philosophers’ views on virtue.
Then we’re joined by Yale psychologist Laurie Santos, whose course Psychology and the Good Life, is the most popular in the university’s history. She hosts the podcast, The Happiness Lab.
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