Happiness

The Surprising Truth About America's Friendship Crisis

Plain English with Derek Thompson, 2 June 2026.

Laurie Santos cites a Dartmouth historian's book Happiness of History to explain how the concept of happiness has changed across time. For most of history, happiness was seen as a matter of luck—the word itself derives from 'hap,' meaning chance or happenstance. Ancient Greek philosophers gradually shifted this by arguing that pursuing virtue, rather than happiness directly, was the path to a good life.

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