4 ms·
That's a straw man though. The "pursuit of happiness" in the Declaration is just fancy phrasing for what was originally the "right to own property". It was chan
by carlosdp 12y ago
That's a straw man though. The "pursuit of happiness" in the Declaration is just fancy phrasing for what was originally the "right to own property". It was changed by Jefferson before the Declaration was finished because of some philosophical points from John Locke [1].
[1] http://hnn.us/article/46460 http://hnn.us/article/46460
- chippy 12y agoSorry, I didn't mean to use a logical fallacy...I just got it from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life,_Liberty_and_the_pursuit_of_Happiness http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life,_Liberty_and_the_pursuit_o... Edits: Actually, reading the article fuller, this makes it even MORE interesting. Buying things, protecting products and property has always been tied up with happiness and the declaration. Fascinating! "life, liberty ... and the possession of outward things"
- mseebach 12y agoThat's not even close to what "straw man" means. And even if it was, the mechanics of how and why the language ended up as it did is largely irrelevant compared to the fact of what the language actually is. The GPs hypothesis is perfectly reasonable, indeed in the very article you link to: > The “pursuit of happiness” has led its own life in popular culture. Now, it's difficult to say if there would be the same focus on happiness in the culture if the phrase has been "property" but that certainly doesn't invalidate the hypothesis.