A Passion for Ignorance: What We Choose Not to Know and Why

by Renata Salecl

Overview

An original and provocative exploration of our capacity to ignore what is inconvenient or traumatic

Ignorance, whether passive or active, conscious or unconscious, has always been a part of the human condition, Renata Salecl argues. What has changed in our post-truth, postindustrial world is that we often feel overwhelmed by the constant flood of information and misinformation. It sometimes seems impossible to differentiate between truth and falsehood and, as a result, there has been a backlash against the idea of expertise, and a rise in the number of people actively choosing not to know. The dangers of this are obvious, but Salecl challenges our assumptions, arguing that there may also be a positive side to ignorance, and that by addressing the role of ignorance in society, we may also be able to reclaim the role of knowledge.

Drawing on philosophy, social and psychoanalytic theory, popular culture, and her own experience, Salecl explores how the passion for ignorance plays out in many different aspects of life today, from love, illness, trauma, and the fear of failure to genetics, forensic science, big data, and the incel movement—and she concludes that ignorance is a complex phenomenon that can, on occasion, benefit individuals and society as a whole.

The result is a fascinating investigation of how the knowledge economy became an ignorance economy, what it means for us, and what it tells us about the world today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691245713
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	11/29/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	216
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Renata Salecl, a philosopher and sociologist, is professor at the School of Law at Birkbeck College, University of London and senior researcher at the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Her books include The Tyranny of Choice and On Anxiety.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition ix

Introduction 1

1 The Many Faces of Ignorance 10

2 Empty Graves: Ignorance, Forgetting, and Denial in War 31

3 The Secret in the Body: Knowledge and Ignorance about Genes 51

4 Denial of Illness 75

5 Love Is Blind 96

6 The Fear of Being Ignored: From Incel to Impostor 113

7 The Delusion of Big Data 128

Conclusion 149

Acknowledgments 155

Notes 157

Bibliography 175

Index 189

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A book passionately not to be ignored!"—Hanif Kureishi, author of The Nothing

"In this pithy, elegant book, Renata Salecl documents and explores today's pervasive passion for ignorance and how it operates at so many different levels of society. Written in an accessible, lively style, the book analyses our efforts not to know through a wide range of examples that touch on most people's lives. Fascinating, illuminating reading."—Darian Leader, author of The New Black: Mourning, Melancholia, and Depression

“In these times of information overload, many people seem more keen than ever to close their eyes and embrace ignorance or denial. As the brilliant Renata Salecl shows in her masterful book, A Passion for Ignorance, this tendency is sometimes increased when people confront something that is too painful or hard to grasp—or when they are in the throes of love or feel ignored by society. This insightful book is a treasure to read.”—Bernard E. Harcourt, author of Exposed: Desire and Disobedience in the Digital Age

Editorial Reviews

"[A] compellingly topical book, which ranges from genetics to fake news."—-Andrew Robinson, Nature

"Elegant and compelling."—-Linsey McGoey, The Philosopher

From the Publisher

2020-06-26
Willful ignorance can be insidious or self-protective.

Drawing on popular writings, scholarly studies, and her own experiences, philosopher and sociologist Salecl, a law professor at the University of London, offers a thoughtful, nuanced examination of the social and psychological motivations for—and consequences of—ignorance or denial. How, she asks, do individuals “try to avoid dealing with traumatic knowledge” by remaining ignorant, and how do societies “find ever new ways to deny information that might undermine the power structures or ideological mechanisms that maintain the existing order?” The pressure to know, the author asserts, has increased with easy access to information online; people feel responsible for being “experts at everything,” including making choices for a healthy lifestyle and deciding on medical treatments. Yet all-encompassing expertise is impossible. “Perceiving and comprehending the world around us,” writes Salecl, “necessarily involves deciding what is important to our needs and goals and what is not.” In times of crisis, ignorance may contribute to well-being or even survival. The author considers how people respond to traumas such as war, fleeing violence, or receiving a dire medical diagnosis as well as what new anxieties, shame, sorrow, and guilt people feel resulting from knowledge of their genetic makeup. Ignorance or denial are involved in love, as well, “when a person wants a relationship to succeed and does everything possible to keep alive the fantasy that sustains it.” Salecl notes the puzzling phenomenon of ignoring information from monitoring that is designed for self-improvement. People who do so are not “consciously embracing self-destructive behavior,” she observes, but rather, just downloading an app makes them feel better. At a time when fake news, propaganda, political rhetoric, and dueling experts dominate the media, the author’s analysis offers a fresh way to think about the decisions each of us make to “embrace ignorance and denial.”

A timely consideration of ways we construct our reality.

Kirkus Reviews