The Surprising Allure of Ignorance
Professor Mark Lilla:
Aristotle taught that all human beings want to know. Our
own experience teaches us that all human beings also want not to know,
sometimes fiercely so. This has always been true, but there are certain
historical periods when the denial of evident truths seems to be gaining the
upper hand, as if some psychological virus were spreading by unknown means, the
antidote suddenly powerless. This is one of those periods.
Increasing numbers of people today reject reasoning as a
fool’s game that only cloaks the machinations of power. Others think instead
that they have a special access to truth that exempts them from questioning,
like a draft deferment. Mesmerized crowds follow preposterous prophets,
irrational rumors trigger fanatical acts and magical thinking crowds out common
sense and expertise. And to top it off we have elite prophets of ignorance,
those learned despisers of learning who idealize “the people” and encourage
them to resist doubt and build ramparts around their fixed beliefs.
Ignorance and Bliss: On Wanting Not to Know by Mark Lilla review – the enduring power of stupidity
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/nov/24/ignorance-and-bliss-on-wanting-not-to-know-by-mark-lilla-review-the-enduring-power-of-stupidity
John Banville:
The central premise of the book is simply stated: “How is it that we are creatures who want to know and not to know?” Lilla, professor of humanities at Columbia University, New York, and the author of a handful of masterly studies of the terrain where political and intellectual sensibilities collide, is an acute observer of the vagaries of human behaviour and thought in general, and of our tendency to self-delusion in particular.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/nov/24/ignorance-and-bliss-on-wanting-not-to-know-by-mark-lilla-review-the-enduring-power-of-stupidity
John Banville:
The central premise of the book is simply stated: “How is it that we are creatures who want to know and not to know?” Lilla, professor of humanities at Columbia University, New York, and the author of a handful of masterly studies of the terrain where political and intellectual sensibilities collide, is an acute observer of the vagaries of human behaviour and thought in general, and of our tendency to self-delusion in particular.
Ignorance is not always bliss — and not always bad — a new book argues
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/02/10/ignorance-book-peter-burke/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/02/10/ignorance-book-peter-burke/
