Ignorance
Columbia University Press (Verlag)
978-0-231-22165-8 (ISBN)
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Does the lack of evidence mean that aliens don’t exist? Why does an unproven mathematical hypothesis have profound consequences? Are humans capable of grasping the nature of divinity? Is it ethical to give a patient a placebo? Why do people persist in demonstrably false beliefs like flat earth theory? Should someone want to know when they will die?
George G. Szpiro examines these questions and many others, offering an engaging and witty tour of what we can learn from ignorance. In a series of fast-paced chapters, he unravels problems ranging across science, mathematics, law, economics, politics, religion, psychology, and philosophy—some esoteric, others drawn from everyday life. Ignorance comes in many forms, Szpiro shows. Some questions are only temporarily unsolved; others are inherently unanswerable. Sometimes authorities keep answers from us, for good or ill. Often our assumptions and biases keep us from overcoming our ignorance, and occasionally we choose to remain ignorant—for surprisingly rational reasons.
Ultimately, Szpiro argues, ignorance is not purely negative. It can motivate the pursuit of learning and wisdom—as long as we acknowledge it. Presenting sophisticated topics in an accessible way, this book shows how ignorance sheds light on the nature of knowledge.
George G. Szpiro is an author and journalist who was a longtime correspondent for the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung. His previous Columbia University Press books are Risk, Choice, and Uncertainty: Three Centuries of Economic Decision-Making (2020) and Perplexing Paradoxes: Unraveling Enigmas in the World Around Us (2024). Szpiro was on the faculty at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Preface
Introduction
Part I. Do Not Know
1. Do Aliens Visit Us? Flying Saucers and Other UFOs
2. Knowledge Under Seal: Les Plis Cachetés
3. A Mathematical Riddle: The Riemann Hypothesis
4. Restricted Access: Top Secret vs. Freedom of Information
5. Ignoramus et Ignorabimus: A Controversy in Germany
6. Will the Universe Expand Forever? Big Crunch, Big Bounce, Big Rip, or Big Chill
7. Ignorantia Legis Non Excusat: Presumed to Know
8. What Is Nothing? Horror vacui
9. Is Justified True Belief Knowledge? Gettier’s Problem
10. Hard but Easy: P vs. NP
11. Ignoring One’s Own Assessment: Ellsberg’s Paradox
12. It’s There but Can’t Be Seen: Dark Matter
13. Unskilled and Unaware of It: The Dunning-Kruger Effect
14. The Hard Problem and the Easy Problem: Understanding Consciousness
15. Uncharted Depths: Aqua Incognita
Part II. Cannot Know
16. On Learned Ignorance: Cardinal Nicolas de Cusa
17. Where and How Fast? The Uncertainty Principle
18. Half Zeros, Half Ones: Random Numbers
19. Satisfice, Don’t Optimize: Bounded Rationality
20. Don’t Even Ask: Meno’s Paradox
21. Engaging in Risky Behavior: Moral Hazard
22. Nonlinearities Have Consequences: Chaos Theory
23. The Sixth Sense in a Post-Truth World: Alternative Facts and Fake News
24. How Long Is the Coast of Britain? Fractal Dimensions
25. Is the Solar System Stable? KAM Theory
26. Entering Infinite Loops: The Turing Halting Problem
27. True but Not Provable: Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems
28. Storing Music, Photos, Video, and Text: Algorithmic Complexity
29. Too Far Away: The Light Cone
30. Is Your Red My Blue? Qualia
Part III. Must Not Know
31. Preventing Last Rites: Professor Bernhardi
32. The Veil of Ignorance: John Rawls’s Theory of Justice
33. Show and (Don’t) Tell: Zero Knowledge Proofs
34. Limited Liability: The Corporate Veil
35. Move to Strike: Unringing the Bell
36. Hot Stock Tips: Insider Trading
37. Carnal Knowledge: Adam and Eve
38. Ignore Irrelevant Alternatives: The Theory of Games
39. Blind and Double Blind: The Placebo Effect
40. Polls Are Like Perfume: The Bandwagon Effect
41. Don’t Talk About Money: Compensation Secrecy
42. Cursed Be He: Spinoza’s Theses
43. Apply for a Patent or Keep a Secret? Intellectual Property
44. Don’t Throw Good Money After Bad: The Sunk Cost Fallacy
45. Kabbalah: Only Men Over Forty
Part IV. Refuse to Know
46. Murder, Suicide, or the Gods’ Wrath? The Square Root of 2
47. “Eppur si muove!” The Trial of Galileo
48. Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend: A Mineral Consisting of Pure Carbon
49. The Silent Epidemic of Misunderstandings: Pluralistic Ignorance
50. “Non, je ne regrette rien”: Anticipated Regret
51. Ill-Informed but Harmless? Flat-Earthers
52. Don’t Even Talk About It: Critical Race Theory
53. Oldies Prefer Ignorance: Twenty-Somethings vs. Over-Eighties
54. Protecting the Second Amendment: The Dickey and Tiahart Amendments
55. Ignoring High-Risk Events: Disaster Insurance
56. Legislating Mathematical Truth: π = 3.2?
57. To Test or Not to Test? Prostate-Specific Antigens
58. Beware: Violence Ahead! Trigger Warning
59. Don’t Tell Me You Did It: Plausible Deniability
60. Experts, Shmexperts: Denial of Expertise, Dismissal of Elites
Epilogue
Notes
Index
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 3.3.2026 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | 56 b&w figures |
| Verlagsort | New York |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 140 x 216 mm |
| Themenwelt | Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Erkenntnistheorie / Wissenschaftstheorie |
| Mathematik / Informatik ► Mathematik ► Logik / Mengenlehre | |
| Naturwissenschaften | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-231-22165-7 / 0231221657 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-231-22165-8 / 9780231221658 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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