Overview

Ignorance is the lack of knowledge or information. Traditionally seen as a mere void, recent work (Agnotology) studies ignorance as a substantive phenomenon—something that is often actively constructed, maintained, or strategically used.

Core Idea

The core idea is that ignorance is not just “not knowing”; it can be a tool of power, a result of secrecy, or a structural blind spot.

Formal Definition

  • Passive Ignorance: Simply not knowing something.
  • Active Ignorance: The cultivation of doubt or confusion (e.g., by tobacco companies regarding cancer).
  • Agnotology: The study of culturally induced ignorance or doubt.

Intuition

  • The Blank Map: Ancient maps had blank spaces (“Terra Incognita”). This is simple ignorance.
  • The Smokescreen: A company hides data about pollution. They are creating ignorance in the public to protect profits. This is active ignorance.

Examples

  • Tobacco Strategy: “Doubt is our product.” Tobacco companies funded research to create the impression that the link between smoking and cancer was still “controversial” long after it was settled.
  • White Ignorance: Charles Mills argues that racial privilege creates a structural blindness to the realities of racism.
  • Privacy: We deliberately keep others ignorant of our passwords or medical history (a positive use of ignorance).

Common Misconceptions

  • Misconception: Ignorance is always bad.
    • Correction: “Rational ignorance” (choosing not to learn trivial things) is efficient. Privacy is also a form of protected ignorance.
  • Misconception: Ignorance is just an absence.
    • Correction: It is often a complex social achievement.
  • Agnotology: (See above).
  • Epistemic Injustice: Hermeneutical injustice is a form of structural ignorance.
  • Skepticism: Philosophical doubt is a form of cultivated ignorance (suspending judgment).

Applications

  • Public Policy: Understanding how misinformation spreads and creates public ignorance.
  • Organizational Management: “Silos” in companies create pockets of ignorance.

Criticism and Limitations

  • Blame: It is hard to distinguish between innocent ignorance (I didn’t know) and culpable ignorance (I should have known).
  • Paradox: To study ignorance, we have to know what we don’t know, which is tricky.

Further Reading

  • Agnotology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance by Proctor and Schiebinger
  • Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance by Sullivan and Tuana