In The Republic Plato describes people who have been chained in a cave all their lives and think that the shadow play on the wall that they have always looked at is reality. When someone finally escapes the cave and comes outside, he is blinded by the bright daylight. He can barely keep his eyes open and feels bad. But you get used to it, slowly. He starts to distinguish shapes. These forms, he teaches, are Ideas. And Ideas, that is what is ‘true’. The rest is all illusion. That image appeals to him. Years later, when he gets the chance to go back to the cave, he doesn’t want to think about it. He would rather live in the truth than in the gloom of his old delusions and opinions. Plato’s message is that we are all cave dwellers and we will not see the light until we turn to philosophy, the source of true knowledge.
Question for under the Christmas tree this year: what if someone who leaves the cave is not impressed by the brightly lit, harsh truth outside and wants to go back at the first opportunity, into that sheltered cave with its shadows and warmth, where you can relax can you dream away? Mark Lilla, a historian at Columbia University, asks that question in his new book Ignorance and Bliss; On Wanting Not to Know. An excellent question. Humanity has more information at its disposal than ever. Yet one of the great battles of our time is against misinformation, conspiracy theories and superstition. America will have a Minister of Health who wants to abolish vaccines against childhood diseases because they would kill more people than save lives. In Hungary, anyone critical of the regime can be accused of being on George Soros’ payroll. The Russian president claims that NATO wants to wipe Russia off the map and that the war in Ukraine is a matter of self-defense. Well, political leaders are often cynical and assertive n’importe quoi to attract votes. But the fact is: millions of people believe this. And many also want to believe it, says Lilla: “Aristotle argued that all human beings want to learn, want to know. But experience shows us that at the same time everyone does not want to know, sometimes very much does not want to know.”
America gets a minister who wants to abolish vaccines against childhood diseases
The nice thing about this book about ignorance is that it does not advocate knowledge, culture and science. That would have been a completely uninteresting purchase for this intellectual. No, he warns readers not to make simple judgments about people who place emotion above reason, as if they belong to a different category than those who are looking for objective information, background or depth in the spirit of the Enlightenment. That contradiction is false, Lilla argues.
He’s right. The desire for more knowledge partly has the same origin as the desire for less knowledge – namely desire (the desire to read or do something else). Many people know the almost physical feeling of happiness that an interesting book can induce, and the desire to turn off the TV and stop watching the news. Every person carries within him/herself the will to know and the will not to know. There are some things you want to know, others you prefer to avoid. Even in the greatest intellectuals, these two are constantly competing for precedence. This book is about that conflict.
It appears at a time when more and more people are denying the truth, and when utopianism is returning to politics. Ingredients for the perfect storm, as we see in America. But the idea that you are above homo fugiens can stand – the one who escapes reality – is wrong. Look out the window, read history books, and see what misery man has caused and continues to cause, despite all knowledge and insight. No reason for complacency, unfortunately.