Knowledge is Virtue?

Moral Excellence, a good admirable quality, righteousness. These are some definitions of the word virtue. We have talked about virtue a lot in this course yet never gave it a real definition. I don't believe that knowledge is necessarily virtue, but i do believe that knowledge does lead to it. When you become knowledgeable about something you are able to be open minded about things and accept things more than when you are ignorant to facts. For example, I was told that I needed to call the holiday inn to make a reservation, the person who told me to do it told me that I should have "a white friend" call because maybe that will enable me to actually get a room. I think this is an example of a person who isn't knowledgeable about the times we live in and isn't knowledgeable enough to be proud of the skin they are in. It can be said that this person isn't virtuous because of the mind set they have.
To be ignorant isn't to be virtuous because if you are virtuous you try to be the best you can be . You try to be righteous but you aren't able because you don't understand the way the world works. So ignorance isn't always bliss, because ignorance is the opposite of knowledge and knowledge leads to virtue. Knowledge does encourage people to be open and accepting of differences that people have. Once you become more accepting , your more prone to doing virtuous things. :-)

Philosophers and Philosophy

OK, So in class we were discussing the topic of happiness, and you already see how I feel about Aristotle's view on happiness. But really, who is he to tell me that when I am happy I don't feel true happiness. Like I feel like questioning my happiness will eventually lead me to never feel happy before. I know that a person could force themselves to be happy and pretend that they are happy, but deep down inside they do know that they aren't truly happy and that it is just a front. Can someone be so good at faking to be happy that they start believing that they are happy themselves? I don't know, all I do understand is that when I am happy, I am happy in the moment, I am living in that moment.
I understand that philosophy is a really informative subject and it is a subject of much debate. However, I feel like philosophers expected people to take in their opinions on the nature of humans and not question it. Yes, people do have similar characteristics, but I feel like you cannot label one specific thing and apply it to all humans. Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, they were humans just like us who wanted to know more about how things worked. They did research and came up with theories, however I don't think their theories apply to everyone. I just think we should all live and be happy with ourselves and others.

Happiness? :-)

Happiness isn't anything that can be defined. It is a feeling that many feel, when something happens the way we want it too. The accomplishment of a goal or the achievement of a merit are things that people may feel happy about. I think we should not rely on others to determine our happiness, just as the example on page 64, we should determine our own happiness, we should feel happy with ourselves then try to make others determine how we feel. On the topic of happiness I do wonder is happiness a momentary escape from reality? When we find our self caught up in the moment are we unconsciously forgetting what the real world is like and are faced with illusions. When we don't feel the feeling of joy or rapture are we coming conscious of what the world is really like and we go back into trying to make ourselves happy again? The book says that happiness is a deception and when the thing that does make us happy is missing we are hit with the harshness of the real world. I don't know about this, I do know when I am happy I am in a place that I don't want to leave.
Is it a fact that people search all their life to be happy, so that's why they do buy expensive thing trying to fill the void. Is happiness a materialistic emotion? I have never thought of these questions, and I try not to because it ruins the emotion. Now a person who reads this part of the chapter is going to ask themselves the next time the feel joy, "Am I truly happy or is this just an illusion." Happiness is an emotion and a feeling that everyone has. Everyone finds their own happiness in things and it's up to them whether or not they want to question it.