Sources · Is ignorance bliss?
This house believes ignorance is bliss.
Fact bank v1 · 12 cards
This is a philosophy motion, so the judge never rules either side's view true or false. These cards say what philosophers generally accept, and cover facts such as who argued what.
- IGN-01
“Most people would rather not know about bad things coming in their future, like when they will die.”
What philosophers generally accept
Confirmed: in nationwide surveys in two European countries, 85% to 90% of people said they would not want to know about bad events coming up in their lives, such as death and divorce.
Many people even wanted to avoid good news: 40% to 70% preferred not to know about happy events ahead, such as whether an unborn baby is a boy or a girl. Only 1% of people always wanted to know. The researchers think people choose not to know to spare themselves regret. This shows what people choose, not whether not knowing actually made them happier.
“Between 85% and 90% of people would not want to know about upcoming negative events”
Psychological Review (abstract via PubMed, US National Library of Medicine)·Cassandra's regret: The psychology of not wanting to know (Psychological Review)Government / parliament · 1 Mar 2017 ↗ - IGN-02
“Most people at risk of Huntington's disease choose not to take the genetic test that would tell them if they will get it.”
What philosophers generally accept
Confirmed: a study of people at risk of Huntington's disease, an inherited brain disease, found that less than 10 percent take the test before they have symptoms, even though the test is accurate and cheap.
People with Huntington's can expect to stay healthy only until about age 50. The study followed 1,001 at-risk people who had not been tested, over about ten years, and the authors say the testing rates were similar to those in the wider Huntington's population. Many untested people were much more hopeful than the facts allowed. Some had signs that made the study's doctors more than 99% sure they had the disease, yet on average these people guessed their own chance was only 52%. The researchers think people may skip the test to protect their hopes.
“less than 10 percent of at-risk individuals are tested prior to the onset of symptoms”
National Bureau of Economic Research·Optimal Expectations and Limited Medical Testing: Evidence from Huntington Disease (NBER Working Paper 17629)Independent research institute · 1 Dec 2011 ↗Further sources for this card
- IGN-03
“Some ancient philosophers taught that giving up on deciding what is true brings peace of mind.”
What philosophers generally accept
Mostly right. The Pyrrhonist skeptics of ancient Greece said that holding back from judging what is true brought a calm state of mind, which they called ataraxia. But they did not praise simply not knowing things. The word 'skeptic' means someone who investigates, and they kept asking questions.
As they told it, they first hoped to find calm by working out what is true and what is false. When the arguments on each side seemed equally strong, they stopped deciding, and calm followed, like a shadow. They said this could free them from the worry that comes with holding beliefs, but not from pain, cold or thirst. Scholars still disagree about how central this calm was to their thinking.
“skeptics can free themselves from those kinds of turmoil that come with holding beliefs”
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy·Ancient Skepticism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)Peer-reviewed research · 21 Sept 2022 ↗Further sources for this card
- IGN-04
“Depressed people see the world more accurately, which shows that knowing the truth makes you unhappy.”
What philosophers generally accept
The evidence for this idea, called 'depressive realism', is weak. A review of 75 studies with 7,305 people found that depressed people were only slightly more realistic than other people, a small effect.
Both groups tended to see things more positively than they really were, and non-depressed people did this more. The small effect was more likely to show up in studies with no clear right answer to check against, and in studies that measured depression with questionnaires instead of interviews. Even a real link would not prove that knowing the truth causes depression.
“Results generally indicated a small overall depressive realism effect (Cohen's d=-.07).”
Clinical Psychology Review (abstract via PubMed, US National Library of Medicine)·Depressive realism: a meta-analytic review (Clinical Psychology Review)Government / parliament · 22 May 2012 ↗ - IGN-05
“Being overly optimistic about your future, even if you're wrong, makes you happier.”
What philosophers generally accept
A large British study found the opposite in the long run. It followed 1,601 people for 18 years. People whose hopes about money were too rosy, or too gloomy, were less satisfied with their lives than realists, whose hopes matched what really happened.
Compared with realists, the most over-hopeful people had 13.5% lower life satisfaction, and the most gloomy had 21.8% lower. The authors think disappointment may build up over time for optimists, and that plans based on wrong beliefs turn out worse. The study only looked at hopes about money, so it may not apply to every kind of optimism.
“those with mistaken expectations, whether optimistic or pessimistic, do worse than realists”
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (full text via PubMed Central, US National Library of Medicine)·Neither an Optimist Nor a Pessimist Be: Mistaken Expectations Lower Well-Being (Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin)Government / parliament · 6 Jul 2020 ↗ - IGN-06
“Less intelligent people are happier, which is why people say ignorance is bliss.”
What philosophers generally accept
A study of 6,870 adults in England found the reverse: people with lower IQ scores were less happy on average. The group with IQs of 70 to 99 was the least happy, compared with the group scoring 120 to 129.
About half of this link was explained by other things, such as lower income, poorer health, needing help with daily tasks, and mental health symptoms. So those problems may explain part of the link. IQ was estimated with a reading test, and the authors note that earlier studies had found mixed results.
“Those with lower IQ are less happy than those with higher IQ.”
Psychological Medicine (abstract via PubMed, US National Library of Medicine)·The relationship between happiness and intelligent quotient: the contribution of socio-economic and clinical factors (Psychological Medicine)Government / parliament · 24 Sept 2012 ↗ - IGN-07
“Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living.”
What philosophers generally accept
Confirmed: at his trial, as told in Plato's Apology (38a), Socrates said that 'the unexamined life is not worth living for a human being'.
He said it after the jury found him guilty, to explain why he would never stop questioning people about how to live. His life's work was examining his own and other people's lives and beliefs about what matters most, such as courage and love. Socrates wrote nothing himself, so we know his words through others, mainly Plato. The line is about thinking hard about how you live, not about knowing every painful fact.
“the unexamined life is not worth living for a human being”
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy·Socrates (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)Peer-reviewed research · 26 May 2022 ↗Further sources for this card
- IGN-08
“Finding out you carry a gene for a serious brain disease doesn't leave people more anxious or depressed.”
What philosophers generally accept
Mostly right, at least for people who choose testing and get support. In a trial, 162 adults with a parent who had Alzheimer's disease were randomly picked either to learn their gene result or not. Over the next year, the two groups showed no real difference in anxiety, depression or distress about the test.
Even those told they carried the higher-risk gene did no worse than those not told. But people who were very upset before testing were more likely to struggle afterwards, and the trial left out people who were very anxious or depressed to start with. A 1992 Canadian study of Huntington's disease testing found something similar: a year on, people told they were at higher risk were less depressed than people whose results gave no clear answer. Everyone in both studies had counselling.
“The disclosure of APOE genotyping results to adult children of patients with Alzheimer's disease did not result in significant short-term psychological risks.”
New England Journal of Medicine (full text via PubMed Central, US National Library of Medicine)·Disclosure of APOE Genotype for Risk of Alzheimer's Disease (New England Journal of Medicine)Government / parliament · 16 Jul 2009 ↗ - IGN-09
“Honest talks with doctors about dying don't make patients more depressed, and they lead to gentler care at the end of life.”
What philosophers generally accept
Mostly right. In a US study of 332 people with advanced cancer, those who had end-of-life talks with their doctor were not more likely to have major depression (8.3% compared with 5.8%, a gap small enough to be chance) and did not worry more.
In their last week of life, they were much less likely to get aggressive treatment, such as a breathing machine (1.6% compared with 11.0%). They were also more likely to have had hospice care, which focuses on comfort, for more than a week (65.6% compared with 44.5%). Aggressive care was linked to worse quality of life. The study watched what happened instead of randomly assigning the talks, so it cannot fully prove the talks caused these results.
“EOL discussions were not associated with higher rates of Major Depressive Disorder”
JAMA (author manuscript via PubMed Central, US National Library of Medicine)·Associations between end-of-life discussions, patient mental health, medical care near death, and caregiver bereavement adjustment (JAMA)Government / parliament · 8 Oct 2008 ↗ - IGN-10
“It's always better to find out early: health screening for cancer only ever helps.”
What philosophers generally accept
Screening can save lives, but it also finds some cancers that would never have caused harm. A major review of trials with 600,000 women estimated that for every 2,000 women invited to breast screening over 10 years, 1 avoids dying of breast cancer and 10 healthy women get treatment they did not need.
That estimate assumes screening cuts breast cancer deaths by 15%, and that 30% is the rate of finding and treating cancers that would never have caused harm. The review also estimated that more than 200 of those 2,000 women would face worry and uncertainty for years because of false alarms. A UK expert panel estimated a bigger benefit: about 1 breast cancer death prevented for every 3 women treated for a cancer that would never have harmed them. The NHS still offers breast screening because it can save lives, but says its main risk is finding a cancer that would never have caused harm. So knowing more, early, helps some people and harms others.
“for every 2000 women invited for screening throughout 10 years, one will avoid dying of breast cancer and 10 healthy women”
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (full text via PubMed Central, US National Library of Medicine)·Screening for breast cancer with mammography (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews)Government / parliament · 4 Jun 2013 ↗ - IGN-11
“Almost everyone refuses to plug into a machine that would give them a perfect but fake life, which proves people value truth more than happiness.”
What philosophers generally accept
The first part is right: most people turn down the philosopher Robert Nozick's 'experience machine'. But when the story is flipped, and people are told they are already in such a machine, most choose to stay. So people may mostly prefer what is familiar, not what is real.
Nozick imagined a machine that could give you any experiences you wanted, without you ever knowing they were fake. He used it to argue that more than our experiences matters to us. Some philosophers think the flipped result shows a 'status quo bias': a habit of wanting things to stay as they are. Many philosophers still think living in reality matters for a good life, but the thought experiment alone doesn't settle it.
“Empirical evidence on this choice shows that most people would choose to stay in the experience machine.”
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy·HedonismPeer-reviewed research · 27 Mar 2022 ↗Further sources for this card
- IGN-12
“Socrates said, 'I know that I know nothing.'”
What philosophers generally accept
Partly right. Socrates was famous for admitting what he did not know. But in Plato's account of his trial, he does not claim to know nothing. He says he is better off than others because he is aware of his own ignorance, while they think they know things they don't.
He also says that human wisdom is worth little or nothing. Elsewhere, Plato shows him saying he knows nothing about justice, and Aristotle wrote that Socrates claimed to know nothing. Yet Socrates still held strong views, such as that it is never fair to harm anyone, friend or enemy. Philosophers call his honest awareness of what he doesn't know 'Socratic ignorance'. For Socrates, it was a reason to keep asking questions, not a reason to stop.
“It is worth noting that Socrates does not claim here that he knows nothing.”
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy·SocratesPeer-reviewed research · 20 Jun 2026 ↗
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