His additional answers appear at the end of the interview. As the Fourth of July holiday again approaches, we spoke with Professor Brent Strawn about why a "thick" understanding of "the pursuit of happiness" may be even more important in our current political climate. That is not a bad vision of thick happiness: for both humanity and the world!Įditor's note: Since this interview was originally published on June 30, 2014, it has consistently ranked among the most-read articles in the Emory News Center.
In the Bible, the prophet Isaiah has a vision along these very lines: a time where everyone will turn in their weapon and melt them all down to make more farm equipment (Isa 2:4). When the government is effective and rightly functioning as one such positive institution, I firmly believe we will see far less “enforcement,” whether via the police or military, and far more “empowerment.” I myself believe these are related: more empowerment of people - facilitating their flourishing - will mean enforcement just won’t be needed anymore. These must be ready to do the hard work of helping others flourish when the government proves ineffectual (as it often does). Positive psychology has highlighted the crucial role of positive institutions, including - when they function at their best - families, workplaces and communities of faith. Third, despite the important role played by governments and law, it is increasingly clear that important things like food, medicine and safe living conditions cannot always wait for the slow movements of governments. Without doing so, there will simply be no place for humans to flourish. All humans share this planet and therefore all humans - and all governments - must take responsibility for its care, particularly in redressing the lack of care that we have exercised for far too long. Second, thinking about happiness as a “global village” issue shows that human flourishing will only be achieved if we take better care of our world. In the republic, all citizens should flourish, and in the global village, all persons should flourish - including those that aren’t (yet) citizens!
So, first and foremost, we have to think more globally, more organically. But, as the positive psychology literature shows (and the biblical book of Ecclesiastes knows this too), more pleasure or more “stuff” will never bring true happiness and flourishing. Not because we are committed to the “unalienable right” of happiness, but only because we are selfishly committed to a narrow, individualized understanding of localized hedonism. Why, then, are we satisfied to let some neighborhoods in a city languish, or some schools in a district fail? Why are we willing to let some countries deteriorate? Or, to shift the imagery, we would not want our daughters to flourish but not our sons. We would not permit, say, one political party to flourish and deny the chance for another to do the same.
First, the most important thing is to realize that the happy life is about more than just me: my health, my wealth, my safety and security.Ī robust understanding of human flourishing means it is for all and that means that our “pursuit” of happiness must transcend narrow nationalisms and thin tribalisms.
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