Ethical capital - The Burden of Happiness
Thinking Allowed
BBC
4.4 • 997 Ratings
🗓️ 2 March 2011
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The British government is seeking to develop a way to accurately measure the happiness of the population. In France such a gauge already exists, but is happiness really the proper goal of life? The French philosopher Pascal Bruckner tells Laurie Taylor that happiness has become a burdensome duty, and that the wave of enthusiasm for pursuing the nebulous quality has the opposite effect of actually promoting unhappiness amongst those who seek it. Much better, says he, to accept that happiness as an unbidden and fragile gift, arrives only by grace and luck. Also on the programme, Patricia Drentea talks about her new study 'Ethical Capital: What's a Poor Man Got to Leave?'. It looks at the hoped for legacy of people who have no financial assets to leave their families. Producer: Charlie Taylor.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, |
| 0:06.0 | the Science of Happiness Podcast. |
| 0:08.0 | For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want |
| 0:14.4 | to share that science with you. |
| 0:16.1 | And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley. |
| 0:19.4 | I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that |
| 0:25.4 | calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.0 | Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless |
| 0:38.3 | search and it's a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the telly we share what we've been watching |
| 0:45.4 | Clairey ate it. Loads of games, loads of fun, loads of screaming. Lovely. |
| 0:50.8 | Off the telly with me Joanna Paige and me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little |
| 0:56.2 | less searching and a lot more watching. |
| 0:58.7 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 1:00.6 | Choosing what to watch. |
| 1:04.0 | Night after night. |
| 1:06.0 | The flicking through. |
| 1:07.0 | The endless searching is a nightmare. |
| 1:10.0 | We want to help you. |
| 1:11.0 | On our brand new podcast off the telly we share what we've been watching. |
| 1:15.2 | Cladiated! Loads of games, loads of fun, loads of screaming. Lovely. |
| 1:20.4 | Off the telly with me Joanna Paige and me Natalie Cassidy so your evenings can be a little less |
| 1:26.2 | searching and a lot more watching listen on BBC sounds this is a thinking aloud podcast from the BBC and for more details in our terms of use and much, much more about thinking aloud. |
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