Ignorance as an epistemological problem
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5840/202360343Keywords:
ignorance, epistemology of ignorance, knowledge-intensive ignorance, uncertainty, production of ignorance, non-production of knowledgeAbstract
The article explores the controversial concept of "epistemology of ignorance", defined as an oxymoron. The use of this term in philosophical literature is primarily associated with research on the distribution of information in group-to-group interaction (L. Alkoff, E. Malewski, N. Jaramillo, C. Mills). Nevertheless, authors of this article suppose that such interpretation narrows the epistemological content of the problem of ignorance. One of the goals of this work is an attempt to give a conceptual load to the mentioned phrase. To do this we consider, first of all, the question of the meaning of the concept of ignorance, and then the rationale for the possibility of a harmonious combination of the concepts of "ignorance" and "epistemology".
The article reviews four theses that show the close relationship between ignorance and knowledge, which is in our opinion the primary justification of the epistemological nature of a problem. The first thesis is widely known in the history of philosophy and science and states that ignorance can be a condition of knowledge. The second thesis protects feedback: ignorance is realized through knowledge. The third and fourth theses address states that combine the properties of knowledge and ignorance: the first may have signs of the second, and the second may have signs of the first. This indicates the need to give the well-known concept of "epistemology" some additional aspects necessary for such a relationship; after all, it must be recognized that such a form as an oxymoron is not often found in epistemological studies.
Based on this, a conclusion is made about what images epistemological analysis can be carried out. The authors see here two possible research tasks, namely, the analysis of the non – production of knowledge and the analysis of the production of ignorance.