Overview

"Ignorance: A Philosophical Study provides an in-depth exploration of ignorance in its many dimensions. Philosophers have long examined epistemological concepts like belief, knowledge, and understanding, but they have paid less attention to ignorance. Socrates famously claimed to be ignorant about a wide variety of issues, such as physical matters and ethics, but did not study ignorance itself. It was not until the 1960's and 70's that ignorance itself became a topic of concern in philosophy, when the fields of agnotology, philosophy of race, and feminist philosophy were born. These fields, however, focused on specific properties of ignorance, rather than ignorance itself.Rik Peels provides a full-on epistemology of ignorance, and then applies that epistemology to a wide variety of philosophical issues. Among the questions he addresses are: What kinds of ignorance are there? What is it to be ignorant of a proposition? What varieties of propositional ignorance are there? What is group ignorance? What is it for ignorance to come in degrees? What is strategic ignorance? What is ""white ignorance""? What does ignorance excuse? When is ignorance culpable? Can ignorance be a proper aim in education? Peels presents a wide-angle exploration that is relevant to the interests of philosophers across epistemology, ethics, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, and other disciplines."

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9780197654514

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Reviews

"Peels is one of the leading figures working on the philosophy of ignorance. This comprehensive treatment of the subject will be the touchstone for all future work on this topic and thus required reading for anyone interested in understanding ignorance. -Duncan Pritchard, UC Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University of California, Irvine By providing a unified epistemology of ignorance, this book makes an important contribution to this growing field in epistemology. It adds to many important debates and brings the discussion forward."" -Säde Hormio This book is excellent in many ways. It is a stimulating, comprehensive, and very thoroughly researched monograph on a timely topic. It is teeming with interesting arguments. Peels puts to good use his impressive knowledge of epistemology, moral philosophy, political philosophy, the philosophy of language, and theology. This is a pioneering monograph on a widely encompassing topic."" -Nikolaj Nottelmann, Associate Professor, Department for the Study of Culture, University of Southern Denmark"

Peels is one of the leading figures working on the philosophy of ignorance. This comprehensive treatment of the subject will be the touchstone for all future work on this topic and thus required reading for anyone interested in understanding ignorance. -Duncan Pritchard, UC Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University of California, Irvine By providing a unified epistemology of ignorance, this book makes an important contribution to this growing field in epistemology. It adds to many important debates and brings the discussion forward. -Sade Hormio This book is excellent in many ways. It is a stimulating, comprehensive, and very thoroughly researched monograph on a timely topic. It is teeming with interesting arguments. Peels puts to good use his impressive knowledge of epistemology, moral philosophy, political philosophy, the philosophy of language, and theology. This is a pioneering monograph on a widely encompassing topic. -Nikolaj Nottelmann, Associate Professor, Department for the Study of Culture, University of Southern Denmark

Author Information

Rik Peels is known for his philosophical work on the ethics of belief, ignorance, scientism, and issues in the philosophy of religion. Over the last few years, he has been co-leader of various international projects funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation. Increasingly, he addresses topics at the intersection of philosophy and empirical disciplines, such as replication in the humanities and the epistemic responsibilities of universities. He is currently leading a large research project, funded by the European Research Council, on the epistemology and ethics of extreme beliefs. He aims to synthesize empirical work with conceptual and normative approaches to fundamentalism, extremism, and conspiracy thinking.

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