Nice comment on the origional article: The modern definition of "happiness" certainly refers to the hedonistic pursuit of pleasure. But it is instructive to con

Nice comment on the origional article: The modern definition of "happiness" certainly refers to the hedonistic pursuit of pleasure. But it is instructive to consider how the term has evolved since the time Thomas Jefferson enshrined the "pursuit of happiness" in the Declaration of Independence as being a fundamental human right. Jefferson most likely borrowed this idea from John Locke, one Jefferson's key intellectual influences. In his essay "Concerning Human Understanding", Locke stated that, "The necessity of pursuing happiness [is] the foundation of liberty. As therefore the highest perfection of intellectual nature lies in a careful and constant pursuit of true and solid happiness; so the care of ourselves, that we mistake not imaginary for real happiness, is the necessary foundation of our liberty." Locke was not referring to the pursuit of sensual pleasure, but to the Aristotelian meaning of "happiness", which Aristotle had described not as the satisfaction of our desire for sensual pleasures, but a person's active pursuit of virtue or excellence, or, in other words, the pursuit of meaning (the phrase "pursuit of happiness" is actually redundant since pursuit is an essential part of Aristotle's definition of happiness). So during the 18th Century and at the time of the birth of this nation, the search for happiness and the search for meaning in life were actually one in the same.