Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance Studies: Second Edition (Routledge International Handbooks)

Description

Once treated as the absence of knowledge, ignorance has now become a highly influential and rapidly growing topic in its own right. This new edition of the seminal text in the field is fully revised and includes new and expanded chapters on religion; domestic law and jurisprudence; sexuality and gender studies; memory studies; international relations; psychology; decision-theory; and colonial history. The study of ignorance has attracted growing attention across the natural and social sciences where a wide range of scholars explore the social life and political issues involved in the distribution and strategic use of not knowing. This handbook reflects the interdisciplinary field of ignorance studies by drawing contributions from economics, sociology, history, philosophy, cultural studies, anthropology, feminist studies, and related fields to serve as a path-breaking guide to the political, legal and social uses of ignorance in social and political life. This book will be indispensable for anyone seeking to understand the important role played by ignorance in contemporary society, culture and politics. Chapter 21 of this book is available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution- Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Illustrations Contributors Introduction 1 Revolutionary Epistemology: The Promise and Peril of Ignorance Studies Introduction Part I: Remaking the Philosophy of Ignorance Part II: the Production of Ignorance as a Resource: Productively Coping with Knowledge Gaps Part III: Valuing and Managing the Unknown in Science, Technology and Medicine Part IV: Power, Oppression and Hierarchies of Ignorance Part V: Behavioral Ignorance and Political Economy: Towards a New Dynamism Concluding Outlook References Part I Remaking the Philosophy of Ignorance 2 Ignorance and Investigation Ignorance as the Absence of Knowledge Ignorance and Belief Complete Ignorance Ignorance and Investigation Conclusion Notes References 3 Apophatic Ignorance and Its Applications Introduction The Present Predicament of Apophatics The Relevance of Apophatic Thought to Universalist Aspirations Today Apophaticism as Universal Applied Philosophy The Universality of What Is Not Acknowledgment Notes References 4 Global White Ignorance Global White Ignorance: Space, Time, Content Racial Erasure Erasing White Racism as the Central Modern Ideology Denying White Supremacy as a Global System Whitewashing White Atrocity, Eliminating Nonwhite Contribution Notes References 5 On the Relation Between Ignorance and Epistemic Injustice: an Ignorance-first Analysis Introduction What Is the Epistemology of Ignorance? What Is Epistemic Injustice? Ignorance-first Versus Epistemic Injustice-first Social Epistemological Analysis Ignorance and Epistemic Injustice: the Picture from Epistemic Injustice Testimonial Injustice, Preserved Propositional Ignorance, and the Case of the Racist Patient Hermeneutical Injustice, Practical Conceptual Ignorance, and the Case of the Ableist Employer Applying an Ignorance-first Analysis to Epistemic Injustice An Ignorance-first Analysis of Testimonial Injustice An Ignorance-first Analysis of Hermeneutical Injustice Ignorance-oriented Analyses Are More Explanatorily Powerful Than Ignorance-involving Accounts Notes References 6 The Pragmatics of Ignorance 1. Ignorance as a State 2. Self-ascription and Attribution 3. Ignorance as Caused 3.1. The Production of Ignorance 3.2. Agnogenetic Processes 3.3. Strategies and Structural Factors 4. Ignorance and Skeptical Challenges 4.1. Skepticism and Doubt-mongering 4.2. The Challenge of Absolute Justification 4.3. The Challenge of Indiscernibles 5. Ignorance and Knowledge-claims 5.1. Claims over Knowledge 5.2. Claims over the Unknowable Notes References 7 Popper, Ignorance, and the Emptiness of Fallibilism Countering Dogmatism Answering the Skeptic Real-World Falsification Critical Rationalism as an Attitude Critical Rationalism as Rules of Thumb Inscrutable Ignorance Notes References 8 Literary Ignorance Introduction Notes References Part II the Production of Ignorance as a Resource: Productively Coping with Knowledge Gaps 9 Forbidden Knowledge in a Post-Truth Era What Is “forbidden Knowledge?” How Is Forbidden Knowledge Created? Forbidden Knowledge in a Post-truth World References 10 Ignorance and the Epistemic Choreography of Social Research Introduction An Epistemic Choreography Research Question Recruitment Deriving Data Data Analysis Ignoring, Othering and ‘misbehaving’ Eventuation and the Process of Research Concluding Remarks: Affecting Epistemic Choreography References 11 Sharing the Resources of Ignorance References 12 Ignorance of Model Uncertainty and Its Effects on Ethics and Society Using the Example of Geosciences Introduction Models in the Geosciences Uncertainties in Models Communication of Model Uncertainties Within Societal and Ethical Perspectives Conclusions Acknowledgements References 13 Expect the Unexpected: Experimental Music, or the Ignorance of Sound Design Introduction Lao Li Bad Surprises Good Surprises First- and Second-degree Ignorance Notes References 14 Ignorance and the Brain: Are There Distinct Kinds of Unknowns? Setting the Scene: What Can Brain Imaging Tell Us About How the Brain Processes Ignorance? Ambiguity Type 1: Multistability (ambiguity) in Visual Perception Ambiguity Type 2: Decision Making Under Imprecisely Known Probabilities Beyond Ambiguity: Second-order Uncertainty, State Space Ignorance, and Conflict So, What Can Brain Imaging Tell Us About Ignorance? References 15 Linguistics and Ignorance State of the Art Linguistics Research Questions and Methodological Approaches Ways of Articulating Ignorance and Referring to Uncertainty Discursive Functions and Consequences of Ignorance Discourse Participants Transtextual Level Intratextual Level Linguistic (or Linguistically Relevant) Findings in a Nutshell Ignorance Claims: How They Function in Discourse… … and the Linguistic Form They Take Summary: Discursive Relevance of Concepts of Ignorance from a Linguistics Perspective Note References Part III Valuing and Managing the Unknown in Science, Technology and Medicine 16 Undone Science and Social Movements: a Review and Typology Introduction Undone Science and Mobilized Publics Other Perspectives on Undone Science Conclusion References 17 Science for Better or Worse, a Source of Ignorance as Well as Knowledge Section 1—manly Science: Knowledge of Men/ignorance of Women Section 2—manly Science: “knowledge” of Women Section 3—an Alternative to Manly Science Conclusion Notes References 18 Lost in Space: Place, Space, and Scale in the Production of Ignorance Introduction Place- and Space-based Ignorance Ignorance and the Problem of Scale Scale Frames and Counter-scale Frames Organizing Ignorance with Spatial Data Conclusion Notes References 19 Ignorance and Industry: Agrichemicals and Honey Bee Deaths Introduction An Epidemic of Honey Bee Deaths Bayer and the Production of Uncertainty Conclusion Notes References 20 Tackling the Corona Pandemic: Managing Nonknowledge in Political Decision-making Politics as an Arena of Epistemic Controversies Methods and Materials Taking Advantage of the Temporality of Nonknowing Maintaining Citizens’ Crisis Awareness Conclusion Note References 21 The Pandemic as We Know It: a Policy Studies Perspective on Ignorance and Nonknowledge in Covid-19 Governance Introduction Conceptual Preliminaries: Policy, Knowledge, and Ignorance Moving Beyond ‘evidence’ and Residual Ignorance Developing Agnoto-epistemological Sensibilities Thinking Like a Policy: Introducing Ignorance in Policy Models Pandemic Policies: Matters of Knowledge and Ignorance Problem Definition and Agenda Setting: Knowing and Acting upon Covid-19 Designing Policy Responses and Solutions in Times of Urgency: Making Covid-19 Governable Implementing the Vaccine Roll-out: Circulating and Fencing Vital Knowledge Evaluating Pandemic Policies by Selecting Knowledge Conclusion Notes References 22 The Right Not to Know and the Dynamics of Biomedical Knowledge Production: Fighting a Losing Battle? 1 Introduction 2 the Peculiarities of Genetic Knowledge and the Emergence of the Right Not to Know 3 Not-knowing as a Legal Right and Social Practice 4 Discursive Contestations: Ignorance and Autonomy 5 a Duty to Know? the Case of Expanded Carrier Screening 6 Conclusion Notes References Part IV Power, Oppression and Hierarchies of Ignorance 23 Intersectional Ignorance in Women’s Sport Gendering Ignorance Ruling on (Contested) Science Alone Intersectional Ignorance Ignoring Intersectional Harms Concluding Discussion Notes References 24 Sexual Injustice and Willful Ignorance Introduction I. Critical Philosophical Perspectives on Ignorance II. Vulnerability and Ignorance III. Ignorance of Vulnerability and Sexual Injustice Notes Bibliography 25 Anthropological Perspectives on Ritual and Religious Ignorance An Implicit Presence: Ignorance in the Anthropology of Religion Approaching Ritual and Religious Ignorance Change, Loss and Collective Memory/Amnesia: the Productivity of Ignorance Ethical and Strategic Cultivations of Ignorance The Politics of Ignorance Conclusion Notes References 26 On the Burial of the Palestinian Nakba Introduction Deforming Prisms 1948–9: ‘Israel’ Erases ‘Palestine’ Maintaining Erasure/Concealing Aggression Erasure of Palestine Through Education Silencing the Nakba Exclusion of Palestine from the ‘trauma Genre’ Teaching Palestine in North American Universities Dr Serhan Raises a Critical Issue Conclusion Notes References 27 Democracy and Practices of Ignorance Introduction I. Police and Democracy in Perspective II. Police and Ethical Ignorance III. Democracy and Aesthetic Ignorance IV. Democracy, Police … and Transformation V. Transformation, Translation, and Diversional Ignorance Conclusion Notes References Part V Behavioral Ignorance and Political Economy: Towards a New Dynamism 28 Targeting Ignorance to Change Behavior Introduction Facts and Assumptions About Human Psychology Behavior-Change Strategies Alleviating Ignorance Circumventing Ignorance Neutralizing Ignorance Concluding Remarks References 29 Rational Ignorance I. the Meaning of Rational Ignorance II. the Ubiquity of Rational Ignorance III. Rational Ignorance and Democracy Conclusion Notes References 30 Knowledge Resistance Introduction What Is Knowledge Resistance? Two Standard Responses for Understanding Knowledge Resistance An Alternative Proposition Knowledge Resistance and Loyalty Claims Knowledge Resistance and Social Esteem Risks and Knowledge Resistance Risks of Resisting Well-supported Knowledge Claims Risks of Opening Up to Rival Knowledge Claims Conclusions and Discussion References 31 Criminal Ignorance, Environmental Harms and Processes of Denial Moral Ambiguity and Neutralisation Pluralistic Ignorance Bystander Ignorance and Social Reaction Power and Denial Crimes of Obedience Spirals of Denial Environmental Crime and Denial Knowing and Acknowledging Notes References 32 Ignorance Is Strength?: Intelligence, Security, and National Secrets Introduction Ignorance as Asset and Threat Ignorance, Oppression and Collective Memory Registering the Unknown: Ignorance as Methodology Conclusion References 33 Decision-theoretic Approaches to Non-knowledge in Economics Introduction The Basic Mathematical Framework First Way of Formalization: Probabilistic and Non-probabilistic Approaches Second Way of Formalization: Genuine Non-knowledge of the State Space and the Possibility of True Surprises Discussion Acknowledgement References 34 Organizational Ignorance Introduction What Is Ignorance? Organizational Ignorance Organizational Unknown Unknowns and Known Unknowns Organizational Knowable Known Unknowns, Unknown Knowns and Errors Organizational Taboos, Denials, Secrecy and Privacy Conclusions References Afterword 35 Ignorance Studies: State of the Art An Ignorance Explosion? Future Prospects References Index