China Social Science Review

No.4, 2023

Understanding Active Ignorance

(Abstract)

Wang Ju

Ignorance means an absence of knowledge. However, apart from passive ignorance, there is also active ignorance in which an actor weighs different values and goals to proactively shape or maintain ignorance through actions. Cognitive subjects display epistemic agency so that active ignorance gains normative attributes. Agnotology has witnessed systematic research on active ignorance and identified three typical types: actively constructed ignorance, passively constructed ignorance and virtuous ignorance. Wilful ignorance is negative ignorance. Cognitive subjects have the obligation and ability to acquire knowledge, but they have an intense willingness to avoid acquiring it. Wilful ignorance often reveals cognitive subjects’ moral or cognitive vices which may incite blame and criticism.