The ubiquity of ignorance: a practical theological challenge of our time

ABSTRACT

Although academics are dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge, few realize that as we construct knowledge, we simultaneously produce ignorance by habitually ignoring what we tend to ignore. When we do reflect on ignorance, we are more inclined to focus on other people’s ignorance than our own. In this paper, I take the case of Brexit as the ‘perfect storm’ of ignorance to re-examine how practical theologians in the UK (and beyond) approach research. I explore the practice of demonization in caricatures from both sides of the referendum, using the work of Elaine Pagels. I then open up the practice by identifying related habits of ignorance, drawing on the theories of John Dewey. I challenge practical theologians not to leave ourselves to our own research devices intended to mitigate our ignorance, but rather to consider that our own fallibility requires methods that cultivate dependency on others not like us, so that we might help one another know what we would otherwise ignore.

KEYWORDS:

• Ignorance
• habit theory
• Brexit
• demonization

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Nicola Slee for the generous invitation to be a keynote speaker for the BIAPT 2019 conference, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I appreciate conversations with colleagues who helped me to prepare: Geir Adfal in discussing habit and practice theory, as well as Chris Schlauch, who tirelessly provided feedback and encouragement as the work evolved.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 DeNicola writes, ‘Latin … gives us two different verbs: ignoro, which means to be unaware of; and ignosco, which means to overlook, refuse to take cognizance of, disregard, or even to forgive’ (2017, 21, italics in original).

2 Dewey deconstructs a ‘spectator theory of knowledge’, in which the object of knowledge is assumed to exist prior to and independently of being ‘grasped’ by the knower (Dewey 1929, 26, 188).

3 OED Online, s.v. ‘through line, n.’ last modified June 2019, accessed September 1, 2019, https://www-oed-com.ezproxy.bu.edu/view/Entry/57909424?redirectedFrom=throughline.

4 OED Online, s.v. ‘demonize, v.’ last modified March 2019, accessed May 25, 2019, https://www-oed-com.ezproxy.bu.edu/view/Entry/49820?redirectedFrom=demonize&.

5 For more on images and the ‘hostile imagination’, see (Keen 1986).

6 Dewey’s analogy is a disposition ‘waiting as it were to spring through an open door’ (1922, 41).

7 Bhambra (2017) discusses the brewing of race and class conflict in the Brexit debates.

8 Carl’s conclusions are corroborated by Sara Hobolt and James Tilley, who found that Leavers and Remainers ‘tend to interpret new information [post-Brexit] in ways that reinforce … preexisting views’ (2019, 20).

9 Compare my definition with Tuana’s shorthand way of describing willful ignorance as ‘they do not know and they do not want to know’ (2006, 11).

10 For more on willful ignorance and self-deception, see (Lynch 2016, 506–7).

11 Meissner characterizes this type of injury as ‘narcissistic injury’ (1995, 247, 255, 257).

12 I am indebted to Chris Schlauch for introducing me to the work of Meissner and helping me understand the notion of projection, which is basic to psychoanalytic work.

13 Bernstein (1989, 9, 15) argues for fallibilism as an important theme in pragmatism, including Dewey’s work. He elaborates the notion of ‘engaged fallibilistic pluralism’, in which knowers take their own fallibilism seriously by practicing openness to one another’s views without minimizing difference and practicing awareness of tendencies within oneself to become defensive. Fallibilism is related to ‘learned ignorance’ (Nicholas of Cusa) or intellectual humility. For a brief introduction to learned ignorance, see (Heft 2011).

14 This is what I have discussed elsewhere as ‘critical intersubjectivity.’ See (Goto 2018).

15 Luke 10:37.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Courtney T. Goto

Courtney T. Goto is Associate Professor of Religious Education at the Boston University School of Theology and a co-director for the Center for Practical Theology. She is the author of Taking on Practical Theology: The Idolization of Context and the Hope of Community (Brill 2018), as well as The Grace of Playing: Pedagogies for Leaning into God’s New Creation (Pickwick, 2016).