Talk:Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

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A particular claim made on this page is that the 3 part phrase is comparable other nations' slogans. This seems like the kind of thing that is original research/ personal opinion. Is there any published source making such a claim? I fully intend to remove that section if not. i kan reed 05:30, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

I dispute the claim made here that Thomas Jefferson considered property antithetical to liberty. Can I get a citation on that? My understanding has always been that Jefferson saw the phrase "pursuit of happiness" as including property, but also expanding on it. I doubt that the man who built Monticello would have anything but the highest regard for the right of property, and I've never seen anything in his writings, which I have read extensively, to lead me to believe otherwise. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.214.240.202 (talk • contribs)

I had heard it was due to his not wanting slaves to have the right to property. Askbros 07:36, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
Funny, you made this comment just yesterday and today I'm rummaging around Google to find reasons for the change. I have not found anything to support that statement. I think a friend told me the same thing once (angrily, in my response to an idealistic use of the phrase), but it's probably a myth, since some published sources I'm finding say they can only speculate. Web sources say the same thing: [1] Shii (tock) formerly Ashibaka 01:40, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

I agree strongly with the anon, though. Jefferson may or may not have been trying to include property rights in his change but he wasn't being anti-property because Marx hadn't been born yet, and indeed the Constitution respects property rights fully. This article shouldn't try to interpret an 18th-century decision in terms of 19th-century politics; that's speculation at best. I rewrote it. Shii (tock) formerly Ashibaka 01:51, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Adam Smith

Where/when does he say "life, liberty, and the pursuit of property?" I can't find it anywhere.Jjmckool 12:49, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] pursuit of happiness

I heard an interview on NPR regarding the pursuit of happiness and was hoping someone else remembers - it was in the last two years. The interviewed person traced the phrase from its origins as meaning (roughly) the ability to work in one's chosen field (property + happiness). He want on to say that in Europe at the time, a favorite way to destroy someone was to prevent them from doing so, and that this meaning was very much recognized and intended when written into the Declaration of Independance.

Does anyone here have a link to the interview or know who the author is? PatriotSurvivor 22:52, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

According to a past judicial opinion, the "pursuit of happiness" is inferred to mean the choice of occupation or vocation (BUTCHERS' UNION CO. v. CRESCENT CITY CO., 111 U.S. 746 (1884)[2]). In other words, the Supreme Court of the United States considered "pursuit" to refer to an economic activity and not the chasing of psychological satisfaction, although the two may be linked. Jason P Crowell 07:34, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Study

Will Wilkinson: In Pursuit of Happiness Research: Is It Reliable? What Does It Imply for Policy? (PDF; 771 KB), Cato Institute, April 11, 2007 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 172.158.16.21 (talk) 22:19, 3 May 2007 (UTC).


[edit] A modern pursuit of Happiness

Just a thought: I believe things that make people happy now is very different from what it was fifty years ago.

Scenerio 1-

  "She smiled at me"...boy+smile= a VERY CONTENT HAPPY

Scenerio 2-

  "Yeah well I got laid"...boy+laid= eggghhh

My point is. It seems it gets harder and harder to find true happiness. Why is that? Is it the selfishness of society?

End of thought:Lolahothot 22:23, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Question regarding "pursuit of happiness"

The entry says "Adam Smith coined the phrase 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of property'. The expression 'pursuit of happiness' was coined by Dr. Samuel Johnson in his 1759 novel Rasselas." However, David Hume uses this phrase in his 1748 edition of An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding. So, how can this be "coined" by Dr. Johnson?

131.216.167.221 01:33, 10 May 2007 (UTC)Jessica

[edit] An important consideration

I still need to translate to English this manifesto where I specifically included an important consideration about Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness :

+ "Un Lema Global" (Pending translation)

I intend to translate it as soon as I can , but if someone could advance me a translation, I'd be sincerely grateful.


--Faustinonh 00:37, 10 October 2007 (UTC)