MeisterEckhart wrote Today at 10:00pm:
thegreatdivide wrote Today at 9:44pm:
MeisterEckhart wrote Today at 7:09pm:
chimera wrote Today at 7:02pm:
MeisterEckhart wrote Today at 6:46pm:
: to constitutionally guarantee certain freedoms as inalienable,
That was the opium and bourbon talking. Happy is alienable too.
That'd be the
pursuit of happiness. Not happiness.
Anti "rights" philosophers have dispensed with that one:
Everyone
desires to be happy, but an individual's desires aren't rights, and they sometimes compete.
Jefferson's addendum - "the pursuit of" - tries to avoid the above problem, but it becomes little more than a motherhood statement, like the 'right' to life and liberty, both of which can only be ahieved under rule of law, with sanctions against those who ignore the law.
Yep, well, the text of the Declaration of Independence was framed to be aspirational, upon which a constitution would be based that codified the relationship between government and the governed.
Yes, to dispense with the ancient Rule by Divine Right'/Mandate of Heaven.
But the question is ..."aspirational" for whom?
eg, "the general welfare" is one of the aspirations mentioned in the Preamble, but it is still to be realized even after 2 centuries...
Quote:To define happiness in a 20th- or 21st-century context is generally to presume it refers to hedonism or hedonistic desire. Happiness in the late 18th-century context apparently referred to the contentment a person feels when they have achieved personal, economic and familial success, and good standing within their respective community.
Well, maybe those today who are blinded by the dictates of the modern 'consumer'/celebrity economy and society.
Otherwise the requirements for happiness you outlined above remain the same over the centuries.