What the Founding Fathers Meant by the “Pursuit of Happiness”: Epicureanism
Lucretius outlined in “De Rerum Natura” the nature of the Universe, as prescribed to by Thomas Jefferson with the phrase, “the pursuit of happiness” found in the Declaration of Independence. Our unhappiness comes from our misunderstanding of the natural world and from the religious dogma that misleads us. The following tenets of Epicureanism are paraphrased from “The Swerve” by Stephen Greenblatt (link to the book at the end). I’m amazed by their prescience: The physical world is made up of…