HAPPINESS: HISTORY OF THE CONCEPT

Ruut Veenhoven
in: James Wright (Ed.) International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition 2015, Vol. 10 pp 521-525, Oxford Elsevier, ISBN 9780080970868

ABSTRACT
Notions of the good life have not changed much over time. All the concepts known today can be found in early writings. What has changed is the prominence attached to aspects of the good life. Another long-term change is that conceptualizations became more specific and that empirical research has revealed their reality links, which made increasingly clear that there is no such thing as 'true happiness'.

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