The Ignorance Solution to the Knowledge Problem

Regarding the latter term, we are of course referring to Hayek, for he who humbly hesitates is always on the right track -->

As long as we can respond without hesitating we do not know the subject.

We can never have too much knowledge, but there's always too much hubris, stupidity, and ideology that fails to begin what what we do not and cannot know. 

Epistemological humility in the face the irreducible mystery is always in good taste, from matteronup (↑) to Godondown (↓). 

I recall a remark by Richard Feynman to the effect that if you understand quantum physics, then you don't. Same with God. Thus, pride goeth before a progressive fail, whereas

Humility is the only secure refuge against stupidity.

Again, intelligence is a "substance," so to speak, before it is a content, and it must always maintain a passive stance toward the Mystery of Being, the latter of which -- obviously -- can never be contained by man, rather, contains us. 

For how could finite being contain the Infinite Being that always contains it? Thus,

Intelligence does not aspire to be free, but to submit.

Or rebel, AKA Genesis 3 All Over Again, for

Intelligence by itself possesses nothing but rebellious slaves.

Or, possesses the freedom to submit: our choice.

Back to the only appropriate stance toward Mystery of Being, come to find out that, *ironically*, 

That which is incomprehensible increases with the growth of intelligence.

It's only too bad they don't award Ph.D.s for awestruck wonder (?!) or ontological WTF! But to be sure, 

There are types of ignorance that enrich the mind and types of knowledge that impoverish it. 

Who isn't impoverished -- financially, intellectually, spiritually, and in every other way -- by a degree in gender or queer or any other discipline that ends with "studies"? 

Speaking of dumb people such as Candace Owens who are Only asking questions,  

No answer can be more intelligent than the question that gave rise to it. 

As to other dumb people who Just want answers,

Anyone can learn what it is possible to know, but knowing it intelligently is within the reach of the few.

It seems that whatever we can know of this world is always bisected by mystery -- which is by no means synonymous with ignorance, unless we stipulate that there exists a kind of Higher Ignorance. 

I don't mean to keep quoting the Aphorist, but he's always one step above:

Erudition has three grades: the erudition of him who knows what an encyclopedia says, the erudition of him who writes what an encyclopedia says, and the erudition of him who knows what an encyclopedia does not know how to say.

And there can be nothing more mysterious than subjectivity itself, which participates in the very Light that illuminates the world.

This Light cannot be autochthonous -- Word of the Deity -- rather, must have its own sufficient reason, as there is no such thing as an effect without a cause, nor can the effect be more than that which is in the cause.

For this reason we invented the term "vertile egghead" for those of us who are fertilized -- "overshadowed," so to speak -- by some sort of mysterious Light from above. Conversely, the worldly infertile egghead is rendered so by the assimilation of darkness, and we know where that comes from. 

The above sentiments were provoked by a passage in The Human Wisdom of St. Thomas Aquinas, which reduces some of the great man's thoughts to funsized nutritional aphorisms worthy of Dávila. In the introduction, Pieper says that,

In the opinion of Thomas, not only does mystery put a limit to the penetrability of reality, but ordo itself is interwoven and crossed by mystery.

And again, not just theological mystery, for lesser forms of mystery are actually rooted in this deeper metaphysical principle: call it the Meta-mystery, or O for short. One way or another, we can only pretend to make O go away.

Note, for example, how much economic, political, and scientistic mischief could be avoided if only our ideological eunuchs for the Thingdom of Matter could abide by this principle! No one would be rioting in order to force their ideological dreamworlds on the restavus, that's for sure.

When Hayek's knowledge problem is ignored by the left (and this ignorance defines the left), it forms the basis of their chronic stupidity problem. 

Which would be fine if it only affected them. But unfortunately, their stupidity affects us all, especially when conjoined with state power. Good intentions + the unlimited coercive power of the state is by far the most successful recipe for hell on earth.

This same subject is discussed from various angles in Sowell's foundational Knowledge & Decisions. Here's the first paragraph:

Ideas are everywhere but knowledge is rare. Even a so-called "knowledgeable" person usually has solid knowledge only within some special area, representing a tiny fraction of the whole spectrum of human concerns. Humorist Will Rogers said, "Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects."

Those of us who have attended college know better than anyone that "Ideas are everywhere but knowledge is rare." And if you haven't yet figured that out, it is in all likelihood because the indoctrination was a complete success: only the patient died.

I suppose I'll never stop unlearning what I learned in school. More generally, the acquisition of meta-ignorance is a lifelong practice, one to which we shall be returning when we discuss the Principle of Everything, which implies a practice. This practice is known to mystics all down through history, but 'nuff said for the moment. Suffice it to say,

The mystic is the only one who is seriously ambitious. 

Or unseriously, depending on how you look at it.

There's a paradox -- or twist -- at play here, because the evolution of civilization correlates with increased ignorance. 

For example, you don't have to go too far back in history to a time when almost everyone had to know how to farm or hunt. Now almost no one does, and yet, there is more food than ever. For the time being, anyway.

Likewise, my ignorance of computer technology is essentially total, and probably so is yours, and yet, here we are. But we know we are ignorant, which is meta-ignorance.

Problems arise when total ignorance masquerades as total mastery. Sowell asks,

What then is the intellectual advantage of civilization over primitive savagery? It is not necessarily that each civilized man has more knowledge but that he requires far less. A primitive savage must be able to produce a wide variety of goods and services for himself...

Conversely, I don't know how to make a moccasin, locate roots & berries that won't make me sick, or hunt for animals with weapons I don't know how to make. In a pinch I could probably scalp someone -- the right someone -- but that's about it.

You've probably heard the old cliche about how modern man knows more and more about less and less, to the point of knowing everything about nothing, and here we are. 

But the converse is equally true: with the advance of civilization we know less and less about more and more, to the point that we are in danger of knowing nothing about nearly everything, for example, the weather.

Back to Aquinas. Or better, BACK TO AQUINAS!

The boundary between order and mystery passes through this world itself; the effort of human thought, says Thomas, has not been able to track down the essence of a single gnat (Pieper).

Not only is this true, it will always be true: whatever we know will always be surrounded -- or bisected -- by what we don't know. This ignorance is a precondition of knowledge. If everything were already lit up, we could never see the light. Nor does it make sense to strike a match in order to illuminate the sun, as do the tenured. 

The intellectual light dwelling in us is nothing else than a kind of participated image of the uncreated light...

Correct. Moreover, this bulbous Light of intellection contains the principle of freedom within itself: "Wherever there is intellectual knowledge, there is also free will." 

And to come full circle back to where we began this post, knowledge from top to bottom is always bisected by mystery. For ultimately

This is the final human knowledge of God: to know that we do not know God.

Thus, meta-ignorance is the solution to mega-stupidity. I don't get it either, but here is:

In any event, Make America Meta-Ignorant Again! Wait, WTF?!

This is much better: