So, is ignorance bliss? My initial response is to say no, that ignorance is ignorance. There’s nothing particularly blissful about it. But then folks will point out that not being ignorant brings with it a certain set of woes. If I am aware of all the bad in the world, it’s going to have a depressing effect. I suppose that is partly true.
But I would suggest that we take a closer look at the word “bliss.” The question is then: Are the people unburdened by the harder things in life happier? Does bliss = happiness? And if it does, what kind of happiness are we talking about?
There is having fun at a party happiness. This happiness, I would argue—as would Plato and Aristotle—that this happiness is pleasurable. It’s thin. It’s here today, gone tomorrow. In a sense, it’s cheap. Laughing your head off at the party is surely enjoyable. But it lacks depth. It does not enrich your life.
The happiness I would say that has greater depth, one that does indeed offer enrichment, is the happiness the Greeks called eudaimonia. This is a deep, contemplative, abiding happiness. It is a long-term investment.
This is what philosopher John Stuart Mill is talking about in his essay on utilitarianism when he says that it is better to be Socrates unsatisfied than a pig or a fool satisfied. Mill is pointing out that it is easy to satisfy a pig or a fool. It takes almost nothing. But for Socrates, it’s three steps forward, two steps back: he wrestles with intellectual problems, things weigh on him. It’s not cheap and easy happiness. Yet, is the fool happier? Sitting on his barstool, getting high while playing video games all day?
I would say the fool is less alive, that he or she is doing something less than living. They are, in a sense, hiding from the world. They fear being connected to the world. They, like the fool, are children—just tall ones. Becoming educated and informed is to march toward eudaimonia. It connects you to the world. Furthermore, it accentuates your responsibility as a person living in the world, as someone embedded in a society. Adults confront their responsibility; cowards and fools and children evade it.
So, is ignorance bliss? I would say ignorance is weakness. Would we prefer weakness over strength? Because when we say ignorance is bliss, that is what we are saying. We are saying ignorance is pleasurable and preferred. We are saying it’s better to be a child than an adult. It’s better to hide from responsibility; it’s better to be disconnected; it’s better to be a coward.
Only strength can lead us to eudaimonia. Ignorance is not bliss. It’s the opposite.
