Ignorance and Bliss: On Wanting Not to Know

by Mark Lilla

A dazzling exploration of our wish to remain innocent and ignorant--and its consequences.

Aristotle claimed that "all human beings want to know." Our own experience proves that all human beings also want not to know. Today, centuries after the Enlightenment, mesmerized crowds still follow preposterous prophets, irrational rumors trigger fanatical acts, and magical thinking crowds out common sense and expertise. Why is this? Where...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374174350
• ISBN13: 9780374174354
• Release Date: December 2024
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.11 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.0" x 7.5"