The pursuit of happiness is a foundational principle of the American democratic experiment, and yet true happiness seems elusive for many Americans. Where does our notion of happiness come from and how did we become a nation of busybodies? 

Benjamin Storey is the Jane Gage Hipp Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Furman University. He is also the Director of Furman's Tocqueville Program, an intellectual community dedicated to investigating the moral and philosophic questions at the heart of political life. With Jenna Silber Storey, he is author of "Why We Are Restless: On the Modern Quest for Contentment."

Greg and Benjamin take a deep dive into the thought of four foundational thinkers, touching on humanism, contentment, diversion, transcendence, religion and democracy in America and the mindfulness movement in this conversation. 

On commitment

It's only by plunking down your chips, by settling on a way of life, that you actually start to become anything. That is, when you retain yourself in a position of pure potentiality, you're not really anything. You could be lots of stuff like a stem cell, but you're not anything in particular. And so to become something, it has to be something specific. 

On Americans

Americans have a very hard time ranking the good. That is, figuring out what are the most important things that we should be pursuing.

Americans are too busy to philosophize

It's the case that everybody else around me is trying to get ahead. Which means that I don't just fail if I go backwards, I fail if I sit still. Because everybody else is advancing. And so we're constantly caught up in this dynamic of needing to advance simply in order to sit still. And that makes philosophizing incredibly hard.

Recommended Resources:

Montaigne; or, the Skeptic - Ralph Waldo Emerson Article

Guest Profile:

• Faculty Profile at Furman University
• Professional Profile at American Enterprise Institute
• Benjamin and Jenna Storey’s Website
• Benjamin Storey on LinkedIn

His Work:

• Articles by Benjamin Storey
• Why We Are Restless: On the Modern Quest for Contentment