In the latest World Happiness Report, released in March 2025, the United States tumbled to its lowest ranking in decades. Lodged in the 24th position, with Belize close behind, Americans might consider borrowing a bit of bliss from our neighbors to the south (Mexico ranks 10th) or to the north (Canada places 18th).

It is tempting to attribute our declining personal happiness to our rising political polarization, but sociologists beg to differ. Instead, they point their finger at social trends that leave us more alone and alienated. It turns out we are not only, to borrow the sociologist Robert Putnam’s phrase, bowling alone, but we are increasingly eating meals alone. In fact, we are doing more and more things alone. Clearly, as the director of the Gallup Poll observed, “Happiness isn’t just about wealth or growth.”

But this, in turn, begs another question: What is “happiness”? What, exactly, did Thomas Jefferson have in mind when, along with life and liberty, our country was dedicated to “the pursuit of happiness”? What did the French novelist Stendhal mean when he wrote that “beauty is only the promise of happiness”? For that matter, what did Bobby McFerrin propose when he sang: “Don’t worry. Be happy”?

This session of Café Philo will pursue the meaning of happiness. As with the previous session, Rob Zaretsky will present a brief philosophical and historical background this time to the question of happiness. Though he already knows the answer, he will then sit back and listen while you, in the company of what Stendhal called “the happy few,” explore this question.

Wednesday, June 4 | 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
In person with croissants and coffee