In Pursuit: Of Happiness and Good Government
From kwharrison13.com · Anti-library
In Pursuit: Of Happiness and Good Government
| Author | Charles Murray |
|---|---|
| Published | 1988 |
| Pages | 341 |
| Recommended | Once |
| Buy | Amazon |
| Why it’s on the list | Murray argues that social policy should be judged by whether it leaves people able to pursue happiness — lasting and justified satisfaction with life as a whole — themselves, and that programmes which take over a person’s responsibilities strip out the very activities that satisfaction comes from. |
In Pursuit: Of Happiness and Good Government
Where I heard about it
- Brendan McCord — on his Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List, March 2026, 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. Full transcription: The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List.
About this edition
Murray uses Maslow’s hierarchy to name the enabling conditions and draws on the Scottish Enlightenment and the American founders.
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.
What links here
Curated by Kyle Harrison. Organized by Claude. Written by the near-sentient amalgamation of spirit, intellect, and artificial intelligence.