Suppose you were given a choice to know something that would bring great unhappiness. Would you want to know anyway, or would you prefer to remain happy?

It depends on what it is. If it is knowledge that is a shared human condition, I would rather know. If OTOH it is something that would only affect me, pehaps not.

True happiness includes humility..

That's a good point... I agree.

I probably wouldn't want to know the exact date of my own death, for example. Although it's hard to say ... given the opportunity of finding out, perhaps not knowing would drive me nuts.

I'd say that knowing that there is a choice (i.e. knowing that there is something I could know that would make me unhappy) would make me unhappy already. Or at least drive me nuts over wondering what it is.

My instinct is to answer that I'd rather be happy. But all of my life choices have pushed me in the direction of knowledge, often to the detriment of my own happiness. So at some level, I clearly would rather have knowledge.

I choose the nonchoice.

I would so hate myself for withholding information from myself, that i would rather not know the answer to yaaarrrgg's question.

yaaarrrgg: you gave me no choice!

I don't understand.

I'd just rather be happy... if knowing would make me happy then I'll be happy either way...

I would definitely rather know. I believe knowledge brings happiness, and in the context of religion (I personally, am an atheist), knowledge is the right choice, because otherwise you're living a lie, which makes you unhappy. All of life's little interesting facts are what make me happy.

In my opinion Happiness and Knowledge they are relatives,Knowledge is on its way to catching Happiness.if i have to chose one of them, i will chose knowledge.

I think charbucks has the point: If I already know that there is something which will make me unhappy, than my happiness is already gone, and I can't shose to rather be happy anymore. So I guess the choice should really rather be, if you want to be happy, or rather know something which could or could not make you unhappy... so that on the one happiness side you really don't know!

Although I am not sure what to chose either then...

Here is something that puzzles me: the majority of posters on this forum are Atheists, and yet the majority also chose knowledge over happiness. This shouldn't be too surprising since it seems that atheists in general tend to choose knowledge over happiness in their daily lives, but to me it seems like a small leap in logic.

It would make sense for a Theist: you could believe that Man should strive to become more like God, making knowledge an important goal of mankind and of every individual (this is an essential belief in Judaism and in Eastern religions). Of course, a Theist could also choose happiness, because he could believe that God wants people to be happy, and that ultimate understanding will come in time as long as they believe in Christ (this seems to be popular among Christians).

But if you believe that there is no God, no purpose for mankind or the Universe, no reason for anything to exist... shouldn't it be logical to just be as happy as possible during our short lifetimes? What makes knowledge so special, so important, that it deserves the sacrifice of happiness? Is it that the feeling of knowing something ultimately makes you more happy? If this is the case, you are misreading the original question that insists that for the purpose of this thought experiment, we are talking about knowledge of something that makes you less happy than ignorance.

I am not trying to offend you Atheists, but am genuinely curious. Why is knowledge important? Why is the future of mankind, after the end of your conscious existence, matter? Why is having some fact in your head worth your happiness?

the way to look at it is a couple of situations, say your dad has died while you were living in another country, would you want to know or not know? i sure as hell would want to know, wouldnt make me happy though.

It's a difficult question. Although atheist, I'm with Ilya, IF I knew that this would make me unhappy, then I would rather be ignorant. Although that's a question that is not easy to answer and it depends a lot of what is that knowledge.

Why would all theists think that there is purpose to life and the universe and why would atheists not? Are they really connected? Perhaps they are connected because some theists are subconsciously atheists who are afraid what atheism means.

I think in principle, knowledge should not impede happiness, people should be able to deal with things and be happy because of what they have. It is no use worrying about that that cannot be helped.(damn i can not remember the name of that point of view.) In practice this is might be too hard. I guess there might be things i do not want to know then. I really am not sure.

I agree. Just because I don't believe in God doesn't mean that I don't believe that the world will still be there after I'm gone. I don't go around torturing people who are alive right now; why would I wish to torture future generations? I believe knowledge is important, and I would like my children and my children's children to have more knowledge than I do. 60 years ago, we didn't know the structure of DNA; now we make models of it out of beads and pipe cleaners in middle school. By furthering my own knowledge now, I am increasing the overall knowledge of the population, now and in the future.

Happiness is a frame of mind, knowing more can only make you unhappy if you want it to.

I'd rather know than be happy. I want to know everything. In knowing everything I can make the best of it. If the knowledge makes me unhappy for a longer time than I wouldn't be able to differentiate (sp?) between happiness and unhappiness.

One of my favorite quotes "Endure. In enduring, grow strong.", this essentially means that if faced with knowledge that makes one unhappy just endure and come out a better man. And who doesn't want to improve oneself?

And to answer Ilyas question why atheist rather wants know than be happy, the same reason as you stated. Curiosity.

By the way, are you an atheist or theist Ilya?

I would rephrase the trappings of the question to my own metal processes allowing myself the possibility of having or finding my happiness amidst the knowledge; I mean shit, it’s only knowledge.

I have known great and lasting sadness, and I don’t have time to wait around for some salvation from the inevitable nature of living to find my happiness.