Single Idea 13550

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / a. Nature of happiness]

Full Idea

To be always happy and to pass through life without any mental distress is to lack knowledge of one half of nature.

Gist of Idea

To be always happy is to lack knowledge of one half of nature

Source

Seneca the Younger (On Providence [c.60], §4)

Book Reference

Seneca: 'Dialogues and Essays', ed/tr. Davie,John [Penguin 2007], p.10


A Reaction

These kind of paradoxes plague virtue theory, and any theory which aims at an ideal. Heaven, for example, seems to have no problems to solve, which spells boredom. The fascination of corrupt people is their superior knowledge of the world.