This philosophical text explores the complex relationship between happiness and illusion, examining whether knowledge or ignorance is more conducive to achieving happiness.
Extract
[...] How to satisfy all our desires? If desire is partly linked to imagination (faculty of the mind to form mental images) we understand without difficulty that happiness is not easily found. We understand at the same time the temptation we might have to flee into illusion, to take refuge there. I - Happiness and Illusion A - The nature of illusion: Illusion / Error Error proceeds from a defect or a lack of knowledge. It can result from a form of precipitation. [...]
[...] Reason is not enough to escape superstition de facto. Determination imprisons us, deprives us of freedom. For Spinoza, the desire to know the truth must be strong enough to be able to free oneself and overcome imagination and belief. Appendix: Supreme Good : ideal happiness My will allows me to make informed choices guided by my reason Will : faculty of the mind Virtue : force of soul, greatness of soul, the quality of my moral will Concept : word that refers to a general and abstract idea Truth : relation between reality and what my mind, my reason will say about it, representation of reality, evaluation of reality Real : what is Stoic : is not affected by what surrounds it, indifference to not be influenced Epicurean : enjoys all the pleasures of life School of philosophy Stoicism (stoics) Epicureanism (Epicureans) Philosophers Marcus Aurelius Cicero Epictetus Descartes Epicurus Lucretius Epicureans : individual logic. [...]
[...] One prisoner comes out in opposition to the mass. It's an unpleasant task because he doesn't want to come out. There is a form of resistance, rebellion. At first, he accomplishes the efforts that are asked of him to do 'bad faith'. The extraction symbolizes: - a conversion. A radical change of posture, to turn completely around, a break. This man must get rid of his prejudices, his lies to search for the truth himself. To search for knowledge, a personal approach must be provided. One says ? [...]
[...] Attachment and the intensity of disappointment are proportional. Ex: transition from childhood to adulthood. B - Beyond the first disillusion that makes us suffer, lucidity can bring happiness", " Descartes Letter to Elisabeth : see correction However, can't excessive lucidity, excessive clairvoyance about the world not harm us and lead us to a form of pessimism, or even to a form of despair, or even to a form of misanthropy? 'We notice that the more a cultivated reason occupies itself with pursuing the enjoyment of life and happiness, the more man moves away from true contentment. [...]
[...] I think - an education (ducere). The passage from one reality to another. This is the negative side of education, which is that of suffering, of hardship, of renouncing my sensitive desires. It is a form of dazzling. 3rd stage: Ascension towards the light (knowledge) This is the second side of education having formative virtues (being plastic that can be shaped). The approach of the one who rises is described as increasingly voluntary. This is the conquest of the truth. [...]
