Happiness, a history, Darrin M. McMahon
Type
Classification
1
Creator
1
Genre
1
Subject
8
Content
1
Mapped to
1
Label
Happiness, a history, Darrin M. McMahon
Language
eng
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 485-528) and index
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
Literary form
non fiction
Main title
Happiness
Nature of contents
bibliography
Oclc number
60312053
Responsibility statement
Darrin M. McMahon
Sub title
a history
Summary
An intellectual history of man's most elusive yet coveted goal. Today, we think of happiness as a natural right, but people haven't always felt this way. Historian McMahon argues that our modern belief in happiness is a recent development, the product of a revolution in human expectations carried out since the eighteenth century. He investigates that fundamental transformation by synthesizing two thousand years of politics, culture, and thought. In ancient Greek tragedy, happiness was considered a gift of the gods. During the Enlightenment men and women were first introduced to the novel prospect that they could--in fact should--be happy in this life as opposed to the hereafter. This recognition of happiness as a motivating ideal led to its consecration in the Declaration of Independence. McMahon then shows how our modern search continues to generate new forms of pleasure, but also, paradoxically, new forms of pain.--From publisher description
Table of contents
Introduction : the tragedy of happiness -- The highest good -- Perpetual felicity -- From heaven to earth -- Self-evident truths -- A modern rite -- Questioning the evidence -- Liberalism and its discontents -- Building happy worlds -- Joyful science -- Conclusion : happy ending
Incoming Resources
- Has instance1