Seeking the Good was originally borne from the Harvard Kennedy School’s Leadership & Happiness Laboratory (LHL), a center led by Dr. Arthur C. Brooks. In 2025, in collaboration with LHL, Seeking the Good merged with the Abigail Adams Institute to incorporate a philosophical and theological element—on top of its social science bent. The journal’s mission remains the same: We seek to explore questions facing culture and society using social science and ancient wisdom.

‘The Form of the Good,’ a Platonic ideal, is the origin of knowledge. Plato argues that only from ‘the Good’—a perfect, eternal, and changeless idea—can justice and truth derive value. As imperfect people, it is a concept that will always be just beyond our grasp, but also one that must be sought after if we hope for a better world. In this digital journal—a collaboration between the Harvard Kennedy School’s Leadership & Happiness Laboratory and the Abigail Adams Institute’s Program on Human Dignity—we intend to inquire about problems and propose solutions with this ideal top of mind.

Our essays will tackle these problems with interdisciplinary enthusiasm. We will comment on remedies to America’s political malaise, how leadership is entwined with pain (and meaning), how to buoy up workplace culture, when conflict is beneficial, and more. It is our hope that Seeking the Good will provide the basis for leaders of families, businesses, and political parties to unite in a shared vision of goodness. Only in seeking can we move forward together.

Submissions

We welcome submissions from guest authors who are academics or practitioners—whether they are established authors or seeking to debut.

Seeking the Good accepts unsolicited, unpublished submissions that have not been submitted for possible publication elsewhere. Submissions should be original essays with a length of 1500-4000 words, diagnosing a complex cultural problem and proposing novel solutions.

Please submit a 200-word abstract of your idea to our Managing Editor, Bryce Fuemmeler, at info@seekingthegoodjournal.com.

What is the use in seeking good?

Seeking the Good reflects on who we are, how we write, and why ideas such as these matter.

Bryce Fuemmeler

Bryce Fuemmeler

Bryce Fuemmeler is the Senior Research Associate for Harvard’s Leadership & Happiness Laboratory, where he leads the Lab’s research team, directs Dr. Arthur C. Brooks’ research, and acts as the Managing Editor for Seeking the Good. In this role, he researches and writes on the science of well-being for students, scholars, and the world outside of Harvard. His writing has appeared in National Affairs, Profectus Magazine, and the Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership’s ‘Community Reflections’, among other places. He holds B.A.s in Economics and History from the University of Missouri, and an M.Sc. in Economic and Social History from the University of Oxford.