How Should We Rationally Deal with Ignorance?: A Philosophical Study [Hardcover]

1. Introduction??Part 1: What Is Ignorance???2. The Framework I? 3. Conceptions of Ignorance? 4. Facts of Ignorance? 5. Causes of Ignorance??Part 2: Rationally Dealing with Ignorance??6. The Framework II? 7. Virtue-theoretical Answers? 8. Consequentialist Answers? 9. Deontological Answers? 10. The Maxim-based Answer??Part 3: Applications??11. Ignorance in Democracies? 12. Ignorance and Uncertainty in Medical Contexts? Outlook

This book addresses two questions that are highly relevant for epistemology and for society: What is ignorance and how should we rationally deal with it? It proposes a new way of thinking about ignorance based on contemporary and historical philosophical theories.

Nadja El Kassar is Professor of Philosophy, with a focus on theoretical philosophy, at the University of Lucerne, Switzerland. Her research interests include social and feminist epistemology, philosophy of perception, and philosophy of mind. Recently she has published articles on ignorance, epistemic injustice, and intellectual self-trust.

This book addresses two questions that are highly relevant for epistemology and for society: What is ignorance and how should we rationally deal with it? It proposes a new way of thinking about ignorance based on contemporary and historical philosophical theories.

In the first part of the book, the author shows that epistemological definitions of ignorance are quite heterogeneous and often address different phenomena under the label ignorance. She then develops an integrated conception of ignorance that recognizes doxastic, attitudinal, and structural constituents of ignorance. Based on this new conception, she carves out suggestions for dealing with ignorance from the history of philosophy that have largely been overlooked: virtue-theoretic approaches based on Aristotle and Socrates, consequelã5