Towards a theory of ignorance

The paper develops an argument for the criteria that a theory of ignorance should meet. It starts from the distinction between instrumental and non-instrumental action. Usually, the latter is considered irrational and the former rational as being based upon known cause-effect relations whilst the la...

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Autor principal:	Adam FFORDE
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	DE EN FR
Publicado:	Editura ASE Bucuresti 2020
Materias:	agnotology policy advice predictive ignorance methodology scientific method non-instrumental action Economics as a science HB71-74
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/1d00d25449c24db2a4f3e028aa9edb57
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:1d00d25449c24db2a4f3e028aa9edb57
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:1d00d25449c24db2a4f3e028aa9edb572021-12-02T11:51:18ZTowards a theory of ignorance1843-22981844-8208https://doaj.org/article/1d00d25449c24db2a4f3e028aa9edb572020-11-01T00:00:00Z https://jpe.ro/pdf.php?id=8978 https://doaj.org/toc/1843-2298https://doaj.org/toc/1844-8208The paper develops an argument for the criteria that a theory of ignorance should meet. It starts from the distinction between instrumental and non-instrumental action. Usually, the latter is considered irrational and the former rational as being based upon known cause-effect relations whilst the latter is not. I argue that the former requires a reasoned basis in predictive knowledge of cause and effect, without which good council is either for inaction or non-instrumental action. The argument proceeds by exploiting mainstream statistical methods to explore an example of a ‘metric of advised ignorance’ to guide explicit reasoned choice allowing rejection of instrumental action in favour of inaction or non-instrumental action. The argument then explores a case study of how such rejection is disallowed by official requirements in International Development Assistance (aid) that contexts must always be believed predictive and so action organised as instrumental. This shows the basic irrationality of mainstream policy rationality. The paper then discusses wider social epistemological issues of this irrationality and concludes with a list of criteria a theory of ignorance should meet.Adam FFORDEEditura ASE Bucurestiarticleagnotologypolicy advicepredictive ignorancemethodologyscientific methodnon-instrumental actionEconomics as a scienceHB71-74DEENFRJournal of Philosophical Economics, Vol XIII, Iss 2, Pp 137-161 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	DE EN FR
topic	agnotology policy advice predictive ignorance methodology scientific method non-instrumental action Economics as a science HB71-74
spellingShingle	agnotology policy advice predictive ignorance methodology scientific method non-instrumental action Economics as a science HB71-74 Adam FFORDE Towards a theory of ignorance
description	The paper develops an argument for the criteria that a theory of ignorance should meet. It starts from the distinction between instrumental and non-instrumental action. Usually, the latter is considered irrational and the former rational as being based upon known cause-effect relations whilst the latter is not. I argue that the former requires a reasoned basis in predictive knowledge of cause and effect, without which good council is either for inaction or non-instrumental action. The argument proceeds by exploiting mainstream statistical methods to explore an example of a ‘metric of advised ignorance’ to guide explicit reasoned choice allowing rejection of instrumental action in favour of inaction or non-instrumental action. The argument then explores a case study of how such rejection is disallowed by official requirements in International Development Assistance (aid) that contexts must always be believed predictive and so action organised as instrumental. This shows the basic irrationality of mainstream policy rationality. The paper then discusses wider social epistemological issues of this irrationality and concludes with a list of criteria a theory of ignorance should meet.
format	article
author	Adam FFORDE
author_facet	Adam FFORDE
author_sort	Adam FFORDE
title	Towards a theory of ignorance
title_short	Towards a theory of ignorance
title_full	Towards a theory of ignorance
title_fullStr	Towards a theory of ignorance
title_full_unstemmed	Towards a theory of ignorance
title_sort	towards a theory of ignorance
publisher	Editura ASE Bucuresti
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/1d00d25449c24db2a4f3e028aa9edb57
work_keys_str_mv	AT adamfforde towardsatheoryofignorance
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Towards a theory of ignorance

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