Homo ignorans: Deliberate Ignorance and the Limits of Curiosity

Aristotle claimed that humans “by nature desire to know.” Hobbes called curiosity “the lust of the mind,” and Maslow described our urge to know as an instinct-like “burning curiosity.” Yet we often choose not to know. We often decline potentially painful medical information. Günter Grass did not want to read his Stasi file. Paul Feyerabend cautioned against trying to know everything about those close to us. Deliberate ignorance is far from rare - especially in consequential decisions.

This talk will ask: When is not knowing reasonable, and when is it reckless? Can individuals or societies ever have a moral obligation to remain ignorant? Who is homo ignorans - what distinguishes seekers from non-seekers of information? Which psychological mechanisms lead us to avert our gaze, and how can these processes be modeled? How prevalent is deliberate ignorance in times of societal transformation, and how does it evolve from childhood through old age?

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