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So I have a paper to write for my IB Philosophy SL class. My topic is the implications of knowledge, whether knowledge is good or bad, basing it off the quote of Thomas Gray "ignorance is bliss." I was wondering what TL thought about this topic and why.
I agree with said quote because if your ignorant, you lack the worries that come with knowledge, and the worries will then weigh you down, by constantly nagging at you. In the movie Pi,+ Show Spoiler + the protagonist strives to learn throughout the movie, and is driven almost insane, into in the end he drills into his brain so that he can no longer learn, and as a result he is happy.
On the other hand Socrates believed that the unexamined life is not worth living. He viewed that it is one's moral obligation to achieve their full human potential, which is the greek's definition of happiness.
Poll: "Ignorance is bliss" agree/disagree
(Vote): Agree
(Vote): Disagree
Also it would be nice if you could mention prominent philosophers and their stance on this issue.
 
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Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. - Ernest Hemingway
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It's bliss for the ignorant person....not for others
lol
Are you supposed to just analyse this based on your own opinion? There are so many countless philosophies of happiness and bliss, are you supposed to incorporate some other theories into your response or what
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We are supposed to analyze it based off of our own opinions but support it with the help of other philosophers.
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Knowledge will eventually lead you to the conclussion you cannot know everything. Ergo, you cannot have the happiness of knowing everything. It just depends on wether you are willing to accept that or not.
I can't really discuss or comment on someone's qoute from an objective point of view, these were my 2 cents.
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You can't be happy if you are not ignoring your failures. Accepting that you can't do everything perfect is roughly the same thing as ignoring that you can improve, when you do something bad it doesn't hurt due to it being some universal law but because you should do it better next time, ignoring that pain is the same thing as being ignorant over your place in the world.
The more you understand the more you realize the amount of lies which are needed for the world to go around. Those lies give people a purpose and makes them happy but only as long as you believe in them. The more lies you discover the less meaning your life gets and as with all knowledge it is a one way road you wont walk back on.
Ultimate ignorance is when a person believes he is the center of the universe and that everything he do is unquestionably the best thing to do.
I would say that self righteousness is bliss, no more moral choices or philosophical arguments, I am right and that's it; That is usually the way of those who says they have discovered true happiness through meditation, they created enough belief in what they do that they don't have to worry any longer.
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I rather be dumb and be happy anyday than be super smart and grump all the time.
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On February 17 2009 07:09 YPang wrote:
I rather be dumb and be happy anyday than be super smart and grump all the time.
Too bad that people can't make that choice.
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I think ignorance is bliss, but people would rather be aware and be miserable than be ignorant and be happy.
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On February 17 2009 07:17 BlackJack wrote:
I think ignorance is bliss, but people would rather be aware and be miserable than be ignorant and be happy.
No, I think that its just that it always seem greener on the other side and you only got enough money to pay for passage over once.
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I would approach the question with the stance that the saying is far too vague. It seems many people agree that ignorance is directly correlated in some way to bliss (atm 19-8), but there have to be many instances where ignorance leads to pain, as well; e.g. the lower class, non-academic frustrated with his circumstances, and yet unable to understand the world around him. Of course, many people on the internet might disagree and state that if he weren't aware of his frustrations (i.e. ignorant), he might be happy (i.e. ignorance is bliss); but, if one were to actually relegate the individual to such a base state of intellect, would he even really qualify as a sentient human individual? Anyways, it occurs to me that you also have to take into consideration that many internet users are technologically more adept than the vast unrepresented populations left on the world, and thus might be operating under the assumption that they are less ignorant than those who they term as being ignorant -- yet they (the internet users) are not free from the daily troubles within their lives either, and so come to associate higher intellect, or technological affinity, or awareness as leading to less happiness, whereas others who are more ignorant by being deficient in those categories are happier. In short, I think that assuming that ignorance is bliss due to personal experiences might be a dangerous principle to be utilizing -- although ignorance may indeed be more blissful, it's important to recognize that such a rule would have to have many living exceptions, and that people we would call ignorant may be living in pain that we are unaware of.
As to known philosophers, I have nothing... =3 Sorry~
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On February 17 2009 06:27 naonao wrote:
Also it would be nice if you could mention prominent philosophers and their stance on this issue.
buddha. he says ignorance is the root cause of suffering. which i believe is pretty opposite to bliss
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It might be, I don't know.
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omg i'm in IB also! i feel so sorry for you
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As far as I'm concerned the amount of knowledge you possess is completely unrelated to how happy you are. How satisfied you are with your life is more a question of your own philosophy and beliefs and the feelings that come from that don't really change regardless of what you learn or understand; the way in which you express them and the circumstances surrounding them might be different, but ultimately they're the same thing.
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I honestly cant comprehend how being ignorant can make you happier, or rather, how knowing more can make you miserable. Isnt the unknown the biggest fear humans have?
Its in mans nature to be curious, its the very key of our superiority above other species.
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United States6454 Posts
I was happy.
I opened my mailbox and found out I had jury duty.
I was unhappy.
I found out that since I didn't actually live in the county where I go to school I didn't have to serve.
I was happy.
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It really depends on the degree of a metaphysical standpoint you want to look at it from. It's a highly personal and subjective question as well.
If you're a Socrates, then ignorance is damnable. If not, ignorance does have its merits.
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Which merits could ignorance possibly have?
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EPT
