Ive been thinking about this for along time is ignorance bliss if your ignorant than you dont know going on its like your a little child not a care in the world. but then bliss is when you are content with whats going on meaning your not ignorant. (a lest my take on the word) it seems contradicting. I wanted to say more but I cant think on how to put it. thoughts on this?

I think....

if you don't know anything outside of your little "bubble" then you can only base your emotions off what you know. Ignorance would be bliss for me because I would live in a wonderful house, wonderful neighborhood, eat well, have fun.

What about a child that knows nothing but suffering? A child might live in an area where the government prevents food from entering the country...so the child is always hungry. They are weak all the time. The have sores and blisters. The only thing that brings happiness to them is being with a loved one (that's my speculation). If they didn't know anything of a better world, they would not be in bliss because although they don't know of much happiness, pain never feels good. Their "bubble" is of being hungry, hurting. Pain is universal...you don't have to know the definition of the word because you can feel it firsthand. Happiness or bliss for them might not be how we define it....I think it would when they don't feel as much pain.

Ignorance is bliss in the middle/upper class people of the world.

For some people in third world countries, ignorance is nothing but what they know.

I think that in certain cases ignorance can be bliss. I've just been reading the Ouija board thread and one of the reasons I would never use one is that at the moment I do not believe in spirits and ghosts, discovering they were real would scare me to death.

Of course to be able to choose which things I would like to be ignorant of requires some awareness of the subject.:confused:

Yes. Ignorance is bliss. My last girlfriend was a moron, and she was always happy.

Ignorance: The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.

Bliss: Extreme happiness; ecstasy.

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"Ignorance is bliss."

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Well, to be honest, I think it's true...

Smarter people usually have more issues (self-imposed) to deal
with so they don't appear as happy as people who see less of
the "big picture". My sister is a perfect example...

I sometimes wonder how it would be like to be retarded and
always be happy, no matter how much saliva keeps soaking my
shirt... ;)

That's very true but......

You are living with a roof over you head, you are using the internet and using a computer!!!

If you felt pain and knew nothing but that (there's the ignorance part) would you still think it was bliss?

That isn't exactly what they mean, but I see your point.

I think on the whole ignorance is bliss. But it depends on the context. Ignorance of what!? If someone is ignorant of happiness then is that bliss? Plus the word ignorance implies choice (i think) Someone chooses to ignore something. A child in a 3rd world may not be ignoring anything.A person who lives a life of luxury may not be ignoring anything. Because it is a choice then i think ignorance is bliss because someone would only choose to ignore something that they dont want to think/know about. this means that it is blissful for them.Someone would only choose to ignore something (i think) that is going to hurt/disturb them.Otherwise why would they ignore it? Ignorance is bliss but that fact that we have a choice to ignore things is good. A child in a 3rd world country, like u said grasshoppa, cannot ignore much. It cant ignore being hungry or thirsty can it (i dont think). it may try but would it work.

p.s i think i may have been wrong b4 about someone only ignoring something that will hurt/disturb them. The child that u describes grasshoppa may choose to ignore what is going on in international politics even though this wont hurt them. Or maybe it would. Maybe it would hurt them that people can bicker over some things when they are sat there starving to death. i dont know. Im all confused now :confused:

Ignorence is intellectual suicide.

If you want that sort of bliss - nothingness - just shoot yourself and be done with it.

Detachment always works better than ignorance. If you don't depend on the knowledge for your happiness, or allow yourself to be driven to unhappiness by other knowledge, then you're free to pursue knowledge casually and without fear. If you're not attached to the result of your investigation you needn't fear the investigation. This works much better than trying to remain ignorant, as an attempt at ignorance is usually just an attempt to escape the inevitable or hide from yourself (or the world)... such attempts are treating the symptoms but not the cause. (Of course the appeal is that it seems easier.)

I agree hoth. Good point

Ignorance is bliss until you come to the realization that you are ignorant. Then, though knowledgable of you own ignorance, ignorance is hell.

I think ignorance is a choice goofy headed punk.

I disagree. A person can be completely ignorant of something, say science, and still want to learn about it.

Ignorance can be bliss, but only CAN. An animal, though innocent, is miserable when caught in a trap.

Innocence also means impotence. An animal can not meaningfully shape the universe to any serious degree.

There is that old proverb, better to rule in hell than serve in heaven.

This may sound a little silly but would you please clarify that clockwood?

-You want to know the truth...-

Rowen

Is an animal, ignorant though he may be, allways happy? No. Only in times of pleanty.
He knows nothing and thus cand find his way out of a good trap.

A wise person can take lemons and make lemonade. They can take most situations and make them better. You have a handfull of seeds. An animal would eat them. A wise man would plant them.

I think in some ways ignorance can be bliss. It depends. Suffice to say, it can work to a disadvantage.

Since everything is possible then ignorance can of course be bliss. But this does also mean that ignorance doesn't have to be accompanied by bliss, nor does bliss need to be accompanied by ignorance. Sometimes they just collide.

A person being tortured may be ignorant of the reason for his torture. A starving person may be ignorant of how to attain food. In certain sterile conditions used in philosophical discussions, ignorance can equal bliss. However, outside such sterile discussions, ignorance does not equal bliss. If it only works in some special cases, it can not be said to be a truism.

Ignorance is not a bliss. If you have a problem and you need to solve it, the last thing that will help you is the ignorance...

Ive been thinking about this for along time is ignorance bliss if your ignorant than you dont know going on its like your a little child not a care in the world. but then bliss is when you are content with whats going on meaning your not ignorant. (a lest my take on the word) it seems contradicting. I wanted to say more but I cant think on how to put it. thoughts on this?


I, personaly, would be much happier if I did not know whether or not ignorance was bliss.

oh, interesting i found you guys. i'm working on a paper right now on that same subject for school. my conclusion is that *enlightenment* is bliss. in other words, ignorance *of relevent data* can never be bliss.
also i believe that the idea of ignorance being bliss is rooted in fatalism. i think it's kind of synonymous with having low self-esteem. if anyone's interested, i can send you my paper when i'm done.

Ignorance IS bliss. for example, if you knew you are going to die tomorow you could fret over it and fret over it and that could evently lead to a stress related heart attack. if you where ignorent you wouldent have fretted and would live.

ignorance to me is a loaded word. It has the connotation and the meaning of someone purposely shutting something out because of their shortsightness.

So ignorance can be bliss.

Some people can shut reality out to a good degree and be happy as a jaybird (sorry for the corniness). They can even be smart people which seems to me to be somewhat of a paradox of paradoxes, because being smart means that you see reality to a certain degree.

Anyway, I think that people can be happy ignorantly or with wisdom and knowledge, because it can be happiness in stupidity or the happiness of the wise.

I think most people that are ignorant are probably quite miserable or if not miserly.

But if you do happen to look at ignorance as simply just not knowing or not being aware of something, and as not something you choose, well then I just said alot of crazy stuff.

Keep in mind my main goal here in saying this stuff is not to hit upon the truth but just to get you all thinking, especially since alot of what I just said in this post is not as clear or on point as some of the things I have written in the past. In fact all this intellectualizing of everything can to somewhat of a degree be really off the mark in terms of what is reality. Therefore as with anything: a grain of salt is dully taken.

Originally posted by Daedalus
Ignorance IS bliss. for example, if you knew you are going to die tomorow you could fret over it and fret over it and that could evently lead to a stress related heart attack. if you where ignorent you wouldent have fretted and would live. To say your world must end tomorrow (specifically) is fatalism, and you shouldn't base your ethics on the morality of emergency situations, but i did deal with this issue. Happiness is the emotion you feel when you've acheived a goal. Humans set goals and work hard at them, even suffer for years just for the pleasure of finally acheiving them, a pleasure that could never be experienced otherwise and makes life worth living. We set short term and long term goals. Suppose it is certain that everything ends tomorrow. As a general principle, is someone going to be happier continuing to suffer for the goals that will never be realized, or would s/he be happier tying up the lose ends and acheive the goals relegated to the end of life?
Personally I think the world would be a lot happier if we each got a 24 hour warning before our death.
But there is no fate, nothing is written. Ignorance isn't bliss, it's just maybe the absense of pain. Bliss isn't a neutral emotion, it's a positive emotion. See? Being broke is the absense of debt, but it isn't the same thing as wealthiness!