Happiness is Overrated

Ecclesiastes Contra Philosophy

I was chatting to Virgil (coming soon!) about Democritus today, as one does, and realized that many ancient philosophers have a happiness bias.

Since antiquity, philosophers have pursued wisdom as the surest path to happiness, yet Ecclesiastes pierces this noble dream with his stark declaration: “For in much wisdom is much grief; and he that increases knowledge increases sorrow.” How can we reconcile the philosopher's luminous promise with this darker truth? The answer lies not in choosing between wisdom and sorrow, but in discovering how their union gives birth to a higher synthesis, one that transforms suffering into joy via catharsis.

The great schools of ancient thought erected their systems upon the conviction that knowledge liberates. The Stoics proclaimed that aligning our judgments with nature brings ataraxia, a state of being untroubled. Aristotle located eudaimonia in the actualization of our highest capacities. From Democritus to the Buddha, the diagnosis remains consistent: we suffer because we cannot see reality as it truly is. Euthymia ( good cheer) is the reward for being sober.

Across these traditions runs a common thread: wisdom appears as suffering's antidote, knowledge as turbulence’s cure.

Yet Ecclesiastes surveyed this landscape and reached a conclusion that challenges philosophical optimism. Having tasted every pleasure and pursued every form of knowledge, he pronounced his devastating verdict: “All is vanity and vexation of spirit.” Far from diminishing sorrow, wisdom multiplies it.

Modern pessimists like Kafka captured this cruel irony: “There is infinite hope, just not for us.” The very clarity that philosophy promises becomes the source of our deepest anguish.