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But society has not always valued pleasure and happiness over character and virtue. There is a great contrast between the pursuit of truth and virtue, versus the pursuit of happiness. And there have been numerous seasons where society valued truth and virtue more.
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Still not sure I agree. Many societies may have valued truth and virtue, or at least they appeared to.
Take the Victorian age as an example. An era still beloved by Conservatives everywhere. So much so that a political party in the UK preached for a return to Victorian values.
And yet the Victorians were the masters of hypocricy. At ease with the extreme diferences in wealth, presiding over some of the worst slums the world has ever seen. Secure in their religious persecutions of 'lesser' races.
Preaching a strict sexual code and yet rampant with perversion.
In my opinion there has never been a golden age which valued truth and virtue, at least never without also engaging in hypocrisy.
Then against that take the foundation of the NHS. One of the greatest examples of doing something for the benefit of the needy.
Take something like "Band Aid". Perhaps the biggest event ever to publiscise the plight of the poor of Africa.
There are many other examples.
To my mind the values you seek our there if you look for them. The only difference is that people are more cynical now and more easily spot the hypocrits and those that do not practice what they preach.