The College Fix

Constitutional scholar Jeffrey Rosen details pathway to happiness in guest lecture at FSU

Constitutional scholar Jeffrey Rosen said there are many ways to pursue virtue, including through a rigorous, daily effort to achieve self-discipline.

But perhaps one of the most meaningful ways, he told a room full of Florida State University students and community members at a guest talk Tuesday, is to read more.

And not just any reading, but “daily, deep reading,” he said.

“Make habits of daily productive time,” he added during his talk, based on the title of his new book “The Pursuit of Happiness,” published this month.

It uses classical Greek and Roman moral philosophers who inspired America’s Founding Fathers as a launch pad to show how virtue is achieved by “habits of industry, temperance, moderation, and sincerity,” according to its online bio.

During his talk, Rosen condensed the founders’ beliefs into the notion of “not feeling good — but being good; not the pursuit of immediate pleasure, but the pursuit of long-term virtue.”

The founders did this through a “rigorous, daily effort to achieve self-discipline, self-improvement [and] character improvement. Using reason to moderate your unreasonable passions,” he said.

Rosen is a constitutional scholar who serves as the president of the National Constitution Center. He also teaches law at George Washington University, is a contributing editor for The Atlantic, and hosts a constitutional debate podcast.

Rosen talked about how achieving happiness through virtuous actions is rooted in moral philosophy, a classical discipline he said he believes has been lost in today’s world.

He said that during his university studies at Harvard, Oxford, and Yale, he had not read any classical writings on moral philosophy because “they had fallen out of the curriculum.”

But Cicero’s groundbreaking five-book series, The Tusculan Disputations, stands as the most important work in the the topic of living a better life, with pursuing virtue as the key, he said.

This philosophy greatly influenced the lives of the Founding Fathers such as Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, who frequently referenced these works as essential to genuine happiness.

The Disputations also inspired Rosen on a reading journey that led to his book, he said.

Benjamin Garcia, a student who attended the lecture, said he largely agreed with Rosen’s message.

“A lot of the things we read can be described as brain-rot. .. When you sit down and open a book, you’re really just there with your thoughts,” Garcia told The College Fix.

He added that the overall message of the talk was really inspiring, that humans must maintain a “general curiosity” to stay informed and engaged in the world around us.

“A lot of people, myself included, can get carried away with the day-to-day activities, and like he said — I think we have a duty [to pursue this curiosity].”

Rosen’s message shares a similar mission with the organization that invited him to Tallahassee and coordinated the event: The Institute of Governance and Civics at FSU.

The institute was established in 2023 by the GOP-led Florida legislature.

Ryan Owens, director of the institute, said its goals include to provide students with speakers and topics they may not get inside their classrooms.

Owens told The Fix via email the institute hosts speakers who “seek to model civic discourse that recognizes the importance of viewpoint diversity, intellectual rigor, and an evidence-based approach to history.”

Owens said that the IGC’s goal in hosting these forums is to “inspire students to engage in governance, foster literacy in public policy, and promote lifelong education in civic leadership.”

A part of its duty involves hosting forums which “allow students and guests to hear from exceptional individuals who have excelled in a wide range of sectors of American life,” he said.

Owens said Rosen was invited because his new book is “interesting” and can help “make the Founding era come alive for modern readers.”

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