About Dr. Laura Kittel
Dr. Laura Kittel is a philosopher specializing in human rights, happiness, and human dignity. After living in Australia for 14 years, where she taught ethics and social justice at the University of Notre Dame Australia and business ethics at Curtin University, Laura moved to Minnesota in mid-2022. She earned her doctorate in philosophy with a focus on human rights, studying happiness and human dignity as they relate to foundational documents like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Her research emphasizes moral character development as the route to happiness and positions human rights as foundational political commitments of modern nation-states. Laura has presented her work at the United Nations in New York.
Show Summary:
Justin and Virginia visit with Dr. Laura Kittel about the concept of eudaemonia (human flourishing) and how Western culture traded philosophical happiness for consumer happiness. Laura explains how ancient philosophers understood the pursuit of happiness as fundamentally ethical rather than material, asking “how should I live” as a question about values and virtues.
She traces the shift that happened during the Enlightenment when society began focusing on individual material acquisition instead of moral character development. Laura connects human flourishing to religious freedom, explaining how protecting the heart, mind, and conscience from government intrusion remains essential for any society built on human rights.
Laura addresses her current challenge of finding her voice between activist, academic, and business audiences. She shares her vision of securing democracy by giving people tools to pursue both individual and collective happiness while building a more just society.
5 Key Takeaways
The ancient philosophers understood happiness as an ethical pursuit. When they asked “how should I live,” they were asking how to order their lives around moral virtues rather than secondary goods like material wealth, fame, or pleasure.
Character matters more than circumstances for happiness. The Greeks believed you could not assess whether someone had a happy life until the end of their life, because happiness is about the alignment between your values, actions, and meaningful pursuit of what is good, true, and right.
Religious freedom protects the foundation of human flourishing. By creating a bubble around the heart, mind, and conscience that prevents government from dictating belief or faith, religious freedom enables people to develop their own conscience and pursue meaning.
Human flourishing requires both rights and responsibilities. Society should not be set up for individual hedonistic pursuits but should be cooperative, getting its bearings from moral values and considering questions of meaning, rights, respect, and contribution.
Democracy depends on the collective pursuit of happiness. Securing democracy requires giving people tools and energy to pursue their individual flourishing while also building a just society that brings everyone into the conversation.
