Biased article on happiness

A piece on the happiness debate in the Christian Science Monitor (22 July) is blisteringly one-sided. It quotes many of the most prominent advocates of the view that wealth does not bring happiness but no one to put the alternative perspective. The usual suspects quoted include Bill McKibben (author of Deep Economy) and Nic Marks of the New Economics Foundation among others. There are also the customary references to the World Values Survey, the Happy Planet Index and Bhutan.

The most interesting point is by Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania. He divides the pursuit of happiness into three categories: seeking positive emotion, or feeling good; engagement with others; and meaning, or participating in something larger than oneself.