I think there r 2 types of ignorance...

Being naive;

a French loanword (adjective, form of naïf) indicating having or showing a lack of experience, understanding or sophistication

and...

Cognitive ignorance;

Cognition is a concept used in different ways by different disciplines, but is generally accepted to mean the process of thought. For example, in psychology and cognitive science it refers to an information processing view of an individual's psychological functions


I think ppl CAN choose to be ignorant, they can choose to not learn more about something they already have their own ideas about.

I see procrastination as already having the knowledge that some action needs to be taken and choosing to hold off on doing it.

Lack of motivation, maybe...

But, probably not ignorance.

Once one has gained knowledge of something, can they be considered ignorant regarding that particular "something"?

This is where accountability enters into the picture.

habit of procrastination leads to ignorance. despite knowledge,procrastinator postpones. If it continues, this habit makes him avoid gathering other new information...and thats makes him ignorant.
well, this can raise a new topic itself, which is procrastination,causes and its consequences

I can see how one's procrastination could have a trickle-down effect on one gaining new knowledge. But, that person was already ignorant (not possessing said knowledge in the first place).

Ignorance, in and of itself, is like a blank slate. Nothing (other than lack of knowledge) leads to it. If one fails to gather new information, that person was already ignorant. They didn't become so "after" not pursuing knowledge... They already were.

Just a difference in logic...

Some people are simply plumb stoooopid....whether by choice or by ignorance.....hmmmm...

Even when fully informed some people are stooopid.

Yeah, but what made the person ignorant in the first place? It cannot be knowledge, especially with kids, it has to do with personality he or she picks up while being raised. So it passes on from parents and then you ask why the parent is ignorant it passes down again...but something creates entire generations of ignorant people, so it has to do with the way of life and the given standards and what a society would value. It also depends on what is or what is not ignorance...there can be people out there who'd call you ignorant because they aren't getting enough attention so they need to blame others for their own failure, whatever that might be.

Ignorance - ignoring the obvious.

If educators prefer to keep education limited, and those that are aware of this, ignore it.... I suspect the ones who are ignorant...are the complacent ones.

You're right, but what if the ones who could do something about it aren't ignorant, but purposely don't want to change it?

I mean, You or I and many others can complain for years about how the school is not adequate and the teaching system has faults but still nothing changes. After time you'd think that it's purposely built like this, but I'm gonna stop before someone thinks it's a conspiracy.

I think you have to factor in the personal desires of an indivudal before you can start making value judgements as to what should and should not be "broken".

WHo is to determine what consitutes "ignorance" and what does not? And more importantly, who decides that something needs to be done about it and how is sucha determination to be made?

What exactly is it that needs "fixing"? Is it a lack of personal knowledge? Is it a desire for personal knowledge? Is an understanding of personal knowledge? Or is it something completely different? Like maybe a desire for someone else to have, desire or understand knowledge? Is not the very OP a personal decision that others are "ignorant", followed by an evalution that such state of affirs is unacceptable, followed by the implication that "something should be done about it"?

In short, the issue may ostensibly be about ignorance, but the cause behind the issue is that someone doesn't like that state of affairs and wishes to change it.

So in order to really address the issue, the very first thing that should be done is to determine if the "ignorant ones" actually want to become "not ignorant." Until that is determined, the whole issue is nothing more than one person thinking that another person should change their actions.

Bottom line: find an ignorant person and ask them if the want to become less ignorant.

Just had to throw that curve ball out there.

With this discussion on ignorance everyone is talking about change.. and ignoring what should be changed... but according to the dictionary.. ignorance is simply 'lack of knowledge'.... or being 'unaware' ...
so if you don't know you lack the knowledge of something or if you are unaware of something.. how do you know your lacking anything if you don't know it exists..
I choose to be ignorant in one way because I don't follow the news... and if someone doesn't know the news exists that also makes them ignorant for lack of knowledge of what is going on in the world.. so now.. how is it their fault to be ignorant in that sense? Unless someone tells them and they choose not to get learn the facts...

Anyone herd the saying "suffering brings people together" ?

How about the levels of ignorance?

Are there less ignorant and more ignorant people out there?

Can it be a problem if somebody just too much about caring and not being ignorant about certain things?

LACK of knowledge.

No knowledge input as of yet = ignorance.

How can we condemn someone for not yet knowing?

We're ALL ignorant to varying degrees.

Personally, I can say that what I consider to be ignorance in other people, can sometimes be a problem for me.

Example: A person uses the word "your" when they obviously mean "you're".

That is a problem for me because it takes longer to grasp the intent of their communication. I have to stop reading because what they're saying does not make sense. Then I have to try and figure out what the correct word should have been, before I can contiue reading.

In other cases, the ignorance of other people is not a problem for me.

Example: I knew someone once who believed that thunder was caused by clouds colliding.

That is not a problem for me. Unlike the above language problem, it didn't have any adverse effect on my relationship with them at all.



Solution? The solution to ignorance can only start with a desire for knowledge. That desire cannot be enforced. All the can be enforced is parroting with no real understanding.

However a desire for knowledge can be encouraged by addressing interest.

But it takes cleverness and insight to be able to use an interest in one area to encourage interest in another area.

<end rant>

I choose to remain ignorant about what it feels like to do certain things, ie: molesting a child, killing in cold blood, stealing, and many more. So in that respect, yes it is a choice. There are those amoug us who really just do not have the mental capabilities of learnig much at all, for those it would be ingrained!

ignorance is the lack of knowledge.
it can be forgivable up to a certain point.

stupidity is the prescence of knowledge
but you do anyways something you know better not to do

ignorance becomes stupidity
when you know you should be doing something different
but don't bother to find out what

Willful Ignorance

Society in general.

Society has become such that people strive to be 'part of the group' whether that group is right or wrong, good or bad matters less than it's popularity.

For example I know a lot of people who voted in the last election for one candidate over the other for no other reason than "they're going to win". They had no desire whatsoever to educate themselves about the candidates. They voted simply because they were exposed to an overwhelming message that 'person X' is who everyone else is going to vote for.

These days this drive to belong and be like the rest of the group is so ingrained that it is extremely difficult to penetrate the blank stare and refusal to think for oneself.

As another example, I like to bring up 'gravity' from time to time. Newton's theory of gravity when examined honestly is simply impossible. It breaks all the so called 'laws' of physics. Yet when you try to have a conversation with most people you continually get the "this guy's crazy" look, and the wall of "You're wrong because the 'group' taught me that Newton's theory is right".

This takes us into a persons most formative learning years, which are spent in most cases within a public education system. A system run by people who's foremost concern is the approval of the group, to remain in thier seat of power.

Where a student to raise thier hand in a science class and say "This doesn't make sense, how can gravity have an instant effect acrost light-years, and an unlimited power source?" They are told that the class only covers an introduction into the theory and that maybe some day they might learn enough to understand why that is, but for now your test answers had better reflect what is written 'by the group' in your text book, or you'll get a failing grade.

So such independent thought is stiffled and replaced with 'group think'.

I think the point about “group think is very well made and very true. The more people that agree with a viewpoint, the more it tends to draw further agreement. Almost like gravity itself,

However, I think that even the “desire to be part of the group” falls under the group think as well. I think the desire to be part of the group is based on a more fundamental desire – self preservation in both it’s positive and negative forms. Being part of a group provides a much greater “survival potential” than being alone through “division of labor” Additionally, it provides a much better chance for personal happiness through social and interpersonal interaction. Thus, rather than being a problem, “being part of a group” is actually a solution in that it is a very effective means of satisfying the two fundamental driving forces of life - avoidance of pain and attainment of pleasure.

My ignorance is definately ingrained, In grain alchohol that is!