express what happiness consisted of in the twentieth century, the conclusion was: “As we see, what decides the purpose of life is simply the program of the pleasure principle.”16 This contemporary definition of happiness is rather thin when compared to the more robust, life-encompassing understanding held not too long ago. It is now a free-floating notion—a vaporous, indefinite idea hovering over our heads, unrelated to the texture of our existence that is colored by virtue or the lack of it. Happiness,