The Veritas Forum

At the Veritas Forum, we believe we were made to seek truth and be changed by it. We are a community of students, faculty, campus ministers, and more,…
Oct 13th, 2022 | 1:15:20

What Good is Happiness? | Jennifer Frey & Jonathan Masur

If you're wondering if you'll get the "happily ever after" promised by fairy tales, you're not alone. For the past three decades, the General Social Survey has tracked a slow decline in happiness in the United States. Responses in 2021 suggest the lowest percentage of "Very Happy" Americans (19%) since 1988. But, what exactly *is* happiness — or its lack thereof? Is it something that we can measure in a survey or promise at bed time? And, how does it contribute to what it means to be human?

In today’s episode we dive into happiness — what it is, how we get it, and its purpose for us today — in a Forum entitled, "What Good Is Happiness?” This Forum event was hosted at the University of Chicago in February 2020. The first speaker is Jennifer Frey, professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Frey is in dialogue with Jonathan Masur, an economist at the University of Chicago.