Ideas worth spreading

America's pursuit of happiness and why it's gone wrong

40,677 views | Caroline Winterer • TEDxStanford

We are so preoccupied with happiness that the Declaration of Independence guarantees our right to pursue it. But are we doing it right? Historian Caroline Winterer argues that what the founding fathers meant was public happiness, the need for citizens to work collectively toward a robust democracy. "Only public happiness," she explains, "creates the umbrella of stability under which we can pursue private happiness."

We are so preoccupied with happiness that the Declaration of Independence guarantees our right to pursue it. But are we doing it right? Historian Caroline Winterer argues that what the founding fathers meant was public happiness, the need for citizens to work collectively toward a robust democracy. "Only public happiness," she explains, "creates the umbrella of stability under which we can pursue private happiness."

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxStanford, an independent event.

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About the speaker

Caroline Winterer

Caroline Winterer is Professor of American History and Anthony P. Meier Family Professor in the Humanities at Stanford, where she is also Director of the Stanford Humanities Center. She studies how people in the past understood their world. Her most recent book is American Enlightenments: Pursuing Happiness in the Age of Reason (Yale University Press, 2016). She received an American Ingenuity Award from the Smithsonian Institution for mapping the social network of Benjamin Franklin.

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This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxStanford, an independent event.

Read more about TEDx.