摘要：In the first part of my thesis I examined the existing traditions within this debate. Happiness in itself was not a new subject and writers could elaborate on both the classical and the Christian traditions. These traditions, however, were not static and subject to several changes. For instance, the classical notion that virtue equates to happiness became an eighteenth-century commonplace. Between 1750 and 1780, this was the most dominant concept of happiness. In addition, many people in the eighteenth-century came to see Christian-ity as a means to establish happiness on earth, thereby changing the Christian out-look from a vertical to a horizontal perspec-tive. The third, generally held, opinion that happiness was to be found in contentment was embedded in both the Christian and the classical traditions. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, this view was in-tertwined with the new cult of domesticity
