Knowing the Unknown: Philosophical Perspectives on Ignorance

Hence, this collective volume aims at approaching a more centered discussion on limits, potentialities, and unexpected qualities of the notion of ignorance. The contributions to this collection show very well how the study of ignorance can animate the debate on a broad spectrum of issues in philosophy, epistemology, cognitive science, and logic. In particular, we have considered three general areas of research: logic and philosophy of science; cognitive science and the philosophical investigations of cognition; social and pragmatical issues in epistemology. In this socio-cultural moment, in which scientific results are sometimes politically and socially contested, and critical reasoning is rarely considered an urgent priority of standard educational plans, we believe that philosophy of science, epistemology, cognitive science, and logic could play a fundamental role in the development of a theoretically productive and pragmatically useful investigation of ignorance. By acknowledging this potential role of philosophy, this volume also aims at cross-examining theoretical and pragmatic perspectives on the analysis of ignorance, and at making it possible to redefine the concept in new cognitive, epistemological, and socio-psychological terms