2007-10-25 19:10:05 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
the phrase ignorence is bliss is a pointless saying. Ignorance means without knowlege, and bliss means carefree. If you have no knowledge then you have no care, cause you dont know anything to care about. All it really means is ignorance is ignorance.
2007-10-25 20:11:53 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
lol, your question made me laugh, thanks! I don't know who it was that first said 'ignorance is bliss.' Might have been politicians... but we wouldn't want that to be the case, huh? It seems to me to be likely that it was a ruler of some kind that may have said that about the people he/she was responsible for, people he/she felt had it easy, with ignorance meaning bliss because they didn't even know the trouble they were so close to. That may have been it.
At any rate, if ignorance were bliss, I guess more people MIGHT be happy... but I've always had this suspicion that most people know quite a lot more than they let on. A lot of people absorb information in ways they may not even be aware of; while they think they are just reading the horoscope in the paper or listening to jazz on the radio, they are also picking up a healthy dose of the day's news and what various announcers or writers think of it. Not subliminal, but right there in the open. I believe people think about it and discuss it even with trusted friends... it just takes a lot sometimes to get people to change anything about the way they are used to living and expressing themselves.
Well, this feels like I got off-track on your question!
I think more people aren't "happy" because they are not really all that "ignorant"!!
2007-10-25 20:28:45 · answer #2 · answered by LK 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
2 reasons:
1. Who says ignorance is bliss?
2. Even if it is, no one is completely ignorant. Feeling, thinking or sensing but one thing is knowledge.
On a philosophical level (which I am not an expert of) I think you would have to define ignorance, bliss, people and happy before being able to try to answer this :)
Practically though, it's probably because, like I said, no one is really ignorant. As we grow, we learn, and we have to face the difficulties of life. This makes many of us unhappy (though it doesn't have to). If you look at children (mainly toddlers) you will see their natural state is happiness.
At least that's what I think!
2007-10-25 19:14:22 · answer #3 · answered by Interested in Things 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is funny, and makes me wonder about the people where I live. The main occupation here seems to be driving around and eating fast food and then whining about how fat you are. Most people here also can't read (anything more than a street sign, anyway). I was an English teacher until I got pregnant and I had at most one kid in every class who was at grade level for reading. Anyway . . . I suppose ignorance has its discomforts, and leads to perceived irritations that, with more knowledge, might disappear. Remember, I'm not a philosopher! Anyway great question.
2007-10-25 19:14:25 · answer #4 · answered by Corozal 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
First of all, I don't believe that 'ignorance is bliss'. It is simply ignorance. The reason more people are not happy is BECAUSE they are ignorant. Ignorant of the things in life that they could make use of to become happier. Because they are ignorant, they are also easily manipulated into believing that they are powerless to change their situations. This, in turn, renders them more easily controlled. And a controlled populaton is a powerless population. Powerless to realize that THEY have the ability to change things, and thereby, enable themselves to be happy.
2007-10-25 20:02:23 · answer #5 · answered by Gee Whizdom™ 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because they were so stupid they voted for George Bush. And, they are too dumb to realize their own errors. Sorry, but I just can't understand how any ordinary, not excessively greedy person, would actually vote for George Bush...how sad. As you say, ignorance is bliss....or dealth in Iraq...it depends on how much you can think.
2007-10-25 20:44:34 · answer #6 · answered by Jay 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because some people are too ignorant to know what real happiness is.
2007-10-25 19:19:52 · answer #7 · answered by Natasha W 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
maybe they are just so ignorant that they don't know that they are in a state of Bliss..??
2007-10-25 21:20:51 · answer #8 · answered by Praire Crone 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
lol
Probably a relative thing.
Maybe this state of quite desperation is bliss compared to the abject horror of profound awareness.
;-)
2007-10-25 20:47:35 · answer #9 · answered by Phoenix Quill 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because "little knowledge is a dangerous thing". And most people are not ignorant, they only have little knowledge
2007-10-26 01:11:58 · answer #10 · answered by TheRapist 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋