In Pursuit: Of Happiness and Good Government

Murray argues that social policy should be judged by whether it leaves people able to pursue happiness themselves, not by economic outcomes or by equality of results. He defines happiness as lasting and justified satisfaction with life as a whole, uses Maslow’s hierarchy to name the enabling conditions, and draws on the Scottish Enlightenment and the American founders to argue that programmes which take over a person’s responsibilities tend to strip out the very activities that satisfaction comes from.

Why it’s on the list: It sits in the Liberalism, Democracy, and Pluralism section between Mill’s On Liberty and Lippmann’s The Good Society — the strand asking what a free society is actually for, rather than how it is constituted.

Where I saw it: On Brendan McCord’s Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List, in the section on Liberalism, Democracy, and Pluralism, saved to Kyle’s “Books To Read” Apple Note. The full 211-entry transcription lives on The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List.

Connections

• Happiness — the concept the book makes into a policy criterion.
• Liberalism — the tradition it argues from.
• The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List — the list this came from.