Happiness summary

The European Middle Ages are sometimes referred to as the Dark Ages because they sit between the “light” of the Roman Empire and the European Renaissance. But it was also dark because everyone was grumpy and miserable.

During the European Middle Ages, many people had a very negative outlook both on life and on the idea of happiness. Full of despair, they felt trapped in their own bodies, which frequently caused them pain.

People continued to embrace happiness throughout the Enlightenment. And at one point people were sure that the only way to conceive of happiness was to understand innocence and sin. Since it was believed that sinners would spend eternity burning in hell, people figured that innocence was the answer to a happy life. So what did they turn to in order to achieve happiness? The Garden of Eden.

The quest for Eden resulted in a work by biblical scholar Bishop Pierre Daniel Huet. In 1691, he wrote A Treatise on the Position of the Earthly Paradise, which claimed that the remains of Eden were to be found in Babylonia (modern day Iraq).

Despite the belief that happiness was natural, notions of sadness and melancholy began cropping up by the end of the eighteenth century. People born during the Enlightenment were taught that they were supposed to be happy, but as the eighteenth century came to a close, people were also talking about a new, strange sadness.

This can be seen, for example, in Goethe’s 1774 publication The Sorrows of Young Werther. The book became popular among young people who were discontented with their lot in life, and Goethe’s work gained a following. People even dressed like Werther, sporting blue frock coats and vests.

The American Dream – the freedom to work hard and create a wonderful life for yourself – drove countless people to set out in search of whatever bounty the land of opportunity had in store for them. But really, the American Dream does not guarantee happiness for everyone.

In fact, after the Declaration of Independence in 1776, hundreds of disgruntled people filed lawsuits against the American government or against other citizens.

Unfortunately for Benjamin Franklin, not everyone believed that the pursuit of happiness ought to be an individual endeavor.

Although Franklin’s liberal sentiment was famously shared by, among others, economist Adam Smith, people began to question the dominant concept of individuality, a cornerstone of capitalist societies.