The Evolution of Happiness and Virtue

How did the teachings of the great Greek and Roman moral philosophers shape America and its founders? How has the shift away from studying those teachings had an impact on the modern political landscape? 

Jeffrey Rosen is the CEO of the National Constitution Center, a law professor at George Washington University, and the host of the podcast We the People. His recent book, The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America delves into the ideas of personal self governance and the historical and contemporary implications of virtues like self-mastery, moral philosophy, and happiness.

Jeffrey and Greg discuss the transformation of happiness from virtue-based to pleasure-seeking, the role of deep reading and character education, and the timeless struggle between personal gratification and civic virtue.

*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*

Episode Quotes:

Is there a connection between evolving definitions of personal happiness and political changes?

07:24: Sometime in the 60s, the definition changed from being good to feeling good. It had something to do with the change in the understanding of happiness in pop culture and during the revolutions of the 60s, sex, drugs, and rock and roll, and the new emphasis on seeking pleasure rather than seeking self-mastery. Both the popular understanding of happiness and what was rewarded in the political system changed. And the founders saw a connection between the need for personal self-government and political self-government, understanding that unless citizens could moderate their unreasonable emotions like anger, jealousy, and fear, they wouldn't choose virtuous leaders, educate themselves about the basic principles of liberty so that they could defend it when it was under threat, compromise, and deliberate with those who had different points of view.

An emphasis on deep reading in today’s online world

50:24: Citizens have an opportunity and a duty to read the primary sources, both the majority opinions and the dissents, so they can make up their minds. The same goes for news. We can always go back to the primary sources and make up our own minds. It is much more important to inspire these habits of deep reading and engagement so that we can take advantage of this marvelous world where all the primary sources are online.

When culture stopped valuing virtues, politics reflected the change

09:01: Once the culture stopped valuing things like self-mastery, moderation, temperance, prudence, courage, and justice to use the four classical virtues, then it became more acceptable to express this in the political arena.

What inspired Jeffrey to launch his recent book?

05:13: So, during COVID, I followed Jefferson's schedule. I got up early. I read the moral philosophy for two hours. I watched the sunrise. I wrote these sonnets, sort of summing up the wisdom, which is a weird practice until I learned that a lot of people in the founding era also wrote sonnets of virtue. There's something about this material that kind of inspires poetry. And what I learned after a year of reading this remarkable literature—it changed my life. It changed my understanding of how to be a good person and a good citizen.

Show Links:

Recommended Resources:

• Cicero’s Tusculanae Disputationes
• Xenophon’s Socrates
• Making the American Self: Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln by Daniel Walker Howe
• Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic
• The Columbian Orator 

Guest Profile:

• Bio at National Constitution Center
• Faculty Profile at George Washington University
• We the People podcast

His Work:

• The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America
• The Most Democratic Branch: How the Courts Serve America (Institutions of American Democracy)
• The Unwanted Gaze: The Destruction of Privacy in America
• The Naked Crowd: Reclaiming Security and Freedom in an Anxious Age
• William Howard Taft: The American Presidents Series: The 27th President, 1909-1913
• Louis D. Brandeis: American Prophet (Jewish Lives)
• Conversations with RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law
• Jeff Rosen | New Republic