Topic for Reflection Journal: 1) Truth or Happiness
Socrates argued that the whole point of life was to pursue the truth. As he famously argued, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Sometimes that meant giving up life’s pleasures and facing uncomfortable truths. The truth, he said, is eternal, while pleasure is temporary. Another Greek philosophers now called the Epicureans argued that the main point of life is to pursue happiness. We ought to enjoy the pleasures of life: food, sex, literature, music or whatever it is that makes you happy. Life is short, so enjoy it while you are here. Life is only good when it makes you happy, and so truth is only good when it brings happiness.
Topic: Does knowing the truth always bring happiness? Or is it just sometimes better to focus on happiness? Can you think of a case in which it is better for someone to be happy than to know the truth? What about examples of when it is better to know the truth than to be happy? Would you want to know an unpleasant truth, even if that truth makes you unhappy? Make sure to respond to all of these questions.
