Ignorance In Voltaire's 'The Good Brahmin'

In the Good Brahmin, Voltaire asks the following question: "would we rather be happy living in ignorance, or frustrated and dissatisfied for knowing the truth?". The moral of the story is basically: "is ignorance bliss?". "Ignorance is bliss" is a very common saying. But is it really? "Would you rather be Socrates dissatisfied or a pig satisfied?". For some people, it may not be easy to answer this question, but for other people like me, the answer is very clear. Voltaire talks about how philosophy does not necessarily make a person happy. In fact, the more a philosophers find out the truth, the less happy he or she is to become. It is very interesting because, he also asks: "If philosophy does not make one happy or wealthy, then to what good is it?". I believe knowledge is power. And yes, I have noticed that many people who are truly ignorant, believe that they are happy. But is that true happiness? And why do they seem …show more content…
Why? because ignorance is a blindfold. You may think that you are happy, but that is not true happiness. So, I would definitely choose knowledge over ignorance any day. Even if that knowledge brings suffering.
It has a lot to do with the bigger picture vs. the smaller picture. It takes knowledge to be able to put things into perspective, once we know what is out there, then we can put our own lives into perspective and analyze and think: "am I settling for a superficial, mediocre,contempt kind of happiness?" In conclusion, while I realize that knowledge or wisdom does not necessarily make a person happy, it can bring power into his/her life. Knowledge is necessary for a person to be able to stand up for themselves. As well it is also necessary for a person to realize that maybe they are settling for a mediocre type of happiness. Or that maybe their lives is better than they