2007-10-01 13:00:44 · 11 answers · asked by YahooAnswers 5 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
If the truth is not blissful, then yes. So the direct answer to your question is no.
2007-10-01 13:03:40 · answer #1 · answered by Insert nickname here 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ignorance is misery.
The saying 'ignorance is bliss' is mere self-flattery. It is the pose of a world-weary, oh-so-wise and learned renaissance man who looks down on the (non-existent) ignorant herd and envies them.
Ignorance means dying of fever because there's no aspirin. It means starving because you don't know how to rotate crops or how to use fertilizer. It means watching your child die in agony when a cure could be found if so many people didn't embrace ignorance.
The saying is usually intended to convey the horror one feels at knowing how awful the world is, but then the world isn't quite as awful as all that. For all the murders, wars and other evils, there are constantly occurring wonders. Acts of self-sacrifice are so commonplace that they are hardly noticed. For every mother that murders her children there are thousands who save their lives daily. For every father that beats his wife or kids there are thousands who work themselves to death trying to provide for their families.
Those who pretend that ignorance is bliss are themselves grotequely ignorant, so why aren't they blissful? Knowledge doesn't make you unhappy, but giving up on learning does. Once one decides he's finished, that there is nothing more worth learning, his misery is set in stone along with his ignorance. The more one learns the more one realizes how much more there is to learn, therefore, ignorance increases at the same speed as knowledge, if not faster. Where then is the marker that divides bliss from misery? If you're highly educated you should be well aware that what you thought was your gargantuan ignorance is not gargantuan, but rather astronomical. Is that when you cross the line into misery from bliss? When you realize you aren't as smart as you thought? But since you're still ignorant, where's the bliss?
This saying is about as stupid as it is possible to be.
2007-10-02 14:46:29 · answer #2 · answered by thelairdjim 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I often thought how nice it would be to be unaware of the world. I remember when I learned my parents were not the same religion (Jewish, Catholic) and that caused me to realize one of them was wrong. It began a lifelong journey. So, I certainly was more content.
On the other hand, I am better for the lack of ignorance.
Also, I think I have seen mentally challenged persons frustrated by their ignorance, so the bliss, such as it is, is limited.
2007-10-01 20:09:25 · answer #3 · answered by Songbyrd JPA ✡ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, it is. This was the first question in Philosophy class and after a tumultuous journey, I have to agree with this statement. Ignorance is bliss.
2007-10-01 20:20:33 · answer #4 · answered by ficklefeather 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No.
But not for the popularly held belief - that if the ignorance is thorough enough the iggy has zero worries,etc.
The difference is that the ultra ignorant often are tormented, beligerant and beligerant people are in anything but bliss...a state reserved for political and (especially) religious zealots.
2007-10-01 21:28:07 · answer #5 · answered by Beejee 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
what you don't know can't hurt you...
unless compared with others...ignorance of an individual is bliss
2007-10-01 20:49:15 · answer #6 · answered by Edmond K 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I took too big a bite from the apple of knowledge and all it did was make me sick. (still beats the alternative though - and yes it is a paradox)
2007-10-01 20:30:11 · answer #7 · answered by megalomaniac 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes truly. if the people dying this year found out, what will happen?? chaos. right??
2007-10-01 20:50:14 · answer #8 · answered by Arabian Dune 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ignorance is evil.
2007-10-01 20:04:21 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes yes it is..thats why i dont watch the news
2007-10-01 20:07:42 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋