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Full Idea
Human knowledge is one thing, human well-being another. There is no predetermined harmony between the two. The examined life may not be worth living.
Gist of Idea
Human knowledge may not produce well-being; the examined life may not be worth living
Source
John Gray (Straw Dogs [2002], 1.9)
Book Ref
Gray,John: 'Straw Dogs' [Granta 2002], p.25
A Reaction
John Gray has set himself up as the Eeyore of modern times, but this point may obviously be correct. Presumably Socrates meant that the examined life was better even if the result was less 'well-being'. Even Gray doesn't want a lobotomy.
| 23055 | Christians introduced the idea that a religion needs a creed [Gray] |
| 23056 | Judaism only became monotheistic around 550 BCE [Gray] |
| 23057 | Gnosticism has a supreme creator God, giving way to a possibly hostile Demiurge [Gray] |
| 23058 | Buddhism has no divinity or souls, and the aim is to lose the illusion of a self [Gray] |
| 23061 | Free atheism should start by questioning its faith in humanity [Gray] |
| 9271 | Human knowledge may not produce well-being; the examined life may not be worth living [Gray] |
| 9275 | Knowledge does not need minds or nervous systems; it is found in all living things [Gray] |
| 9276 | The will hardly ever does anything; most of our life just happens to us [Gray] |
| 9272 | Without Christianity we lose the idea that human history has a meaning [Gray] |
| 9278 | Nowadays we identify the free life with the good life [Gray] |
| 9279 | What was our original sin, and how could Christ's suffering redeem it? [Gray] |
| 9280 | Over forty percent of the Earth's living tissue is human [Gray] |