Can Happiness Exist with the Presence of Knowledge?
From the time of our ancestors, the human species have been acquiring knowledge. As it is in our nature to attain knowledge, it is also in our nature to predominantly search for happiness. However, can happiness exist with the presence of knowledge? As people attain knowledge, they tend to become more solitary and self-governed. When knowledge is attained, it causes the mind to search for answers that may not exist. Knowledgeable people are prohibited from experiencing happiness through everyday activities. Although, when people gain knowledge it is shared with a range of other people. Humans are inquisitive beings, even without the contribution of knowledge we are curious. Some people who obtain knowledge receive happiness as they learn and achieve it. Being a knowledgeable person does not bring happiness.
Being a knowledgeable person does not bring happiness, means any person who gains all information, facts, truths, and, principles learned throughout time (msn Encarta), cannot feel intended pleasure, and there is an absence of pain, stress, and, anxiety (Heydt).
When a person gets involved in gaining knowledge, they have the tendency to become more self-contained. Humans have the thirst for knowledge, which permits people to get very deep into their work and thoughts. For example, some people in post secondary education spend a several amount of time into their studies. Therefore they leave no leisure time to interact or socialize with others. They become captivated from their own knowledge. This lengthened period spent on their work, isolates them and tenses the person out. When people expand on their knowledge, they loose all consideration for others ad especially themselves.
A knowledgeable person knows that not every question has an answer, and the questions that do have an answer would probably lead you to search for answers that do not exist. Voltaires story, The Good Brahman, demonstrates that knowledge is not certainty to grant happiness. The Brahman, a very wise man, full of wit and very learned, is himself as lost as the people who ask him for answers. As he tries to get help and get more answers he states that everything increases the painful feeling he endures. Voltaire notices the elderly woman next door and sees that she is extremely happy, even though she does not possess much knowledge (Paquette & Gini-Newman). This story displays that knowledge leaves a person with more problems then they initially started off with. As a result, they are stuck in a place without an answer to any of their concerns.
As people increase their overall knowledge, they begin to experience less pleasurable events. This might refer to the phrase, you know too much for your own good. For instance, if you were to play a game of tag and you had the knowledge that there is a chance of you falling and scraping your knee, you might