Publication

2010 - Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey

Language

English

Word Count

61,000 words, Guess

Page Count

244 pages

Identifiers

and 4 more
  • OCLC Control Number440562967
  • Better World Books9780691143736
  • Better World BooksO8-CBW-067
  • Open LibraryOL23736304M

Classifications

  • DDC170
  • LCCBJ1482 .B7813 2010
  • LCCBJ1482.B7813 2010

Description

Happiness today is not just a possibility or an option but a requirement and a duty. To fail to be happy is to fail utterly. Happiness has become a religion--one whose smiley-faced god looks down in rebuke upon everyone who hasn't yet attained the blessed state of perpetual euphoria. How has a liberating principle of the Enlightenment--the right to pursue happiness--become the unavoidable and burdensome responsibility to be happy? How did we become unhappy about not being happy--and what might we do to escape this predicament? In Perpetual Euphoria, Pascal Bruckner takes up these questions with all his unconventional wit, force, and brilliance, arguing that we might be happier if we simply abandoned our mad pursuit of happiness.

Subjects

Topics

SocialHistoryHappinessPhilosophySocial aspectsEthics & Moral PhilosophyHappiness -- Social aspects

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