In the Spanish edition of Agnotología, the classic work on the subject of what we know that we don’t know, it is noted that, depending on how the gaps in knowledge are managed, measures will or will not be taken about cigarettes, transgenic organisms or pollutants from emissions and denial will be fed or not. And it is that ignorance, in addition to connoting a cognitive deficit, is an incentive to research, an instrument of action or passivity, and a fundamental component of social relations, among so many other dimensions that we cannot afford to ignore.
From the 1950s and for several decades, the tobacco industry in the United States fought a hard battle to deny the responsibility of smoking in the origin of cancer. To that end, he employed all kinds of resources: from denying the association between lung tumors and smoking, to insisting that the evidence on a causal relationship was insufficient and more research was needed before restricting the questioned habit. His bad faith tricks – in his internal documents he admitted what he publicly denied – led Robert N. Proctor, historian of science at Stanford University (USA), to become interested in scientific ignorance and its production and manipulation for purposes contrary to the general interest. .
Proctor, the first historian to testify against the tobacco industry in court, resurrected the term ‘agnotology’ coined by a linguist in 1992 from the Greek word agnosis (‘not to know’), and wrote a now classic work, Agnotology: the production of ignorancewhich this year has been translated into Spanish.
The most glaring case was made for the tobacco industry’s cynical motto: “doubt is our product”.
Specifically, the author details how ignorance and uncertainties are induced by withholding information or publishing misleading data. The most glaring case was made for the tobacco industry’s cynical motto: “doubt is our product”.
Proctor focuses on how corporate interests have used and are using inevitable ignorance in specific areas to block or delay preventive measures of possible harm. The tobacco companies’ dilatory model has been adopted by the food industry and by mining and oil companies for a similar purpose (an exhaustive analysis of these tactics is offered by Mercaderes de la Duda). As the author denounces, the excess of journalistic zeal in giving “balanced” versions of these artificial polemics contributed to giving them equal weight in their coverage, as for the arguments that proved the opposite beyond any reasonable doubt.
Promoting ignorance by concealment or disinterest
In the chapters signed by the other collaborators, other ways of promoting ignorance are reviewed. One is the secret. Philosopher of science Peter Galison tells how, starting with the Manhattan Project, the principle of publicity characteristic of modern science was transgressed and scientific discoveries began to be hidden in the name of national security. For example, due to Cold War requirements, the existence of plutonium and underwater magnetic anomalies were concealed, which delayed the verification of plate tectonics theory.
In the USA, every year, an incredible number of documents are classified and 5,500 million dollars are spent to keep them secret.
Furthermore, as of 1995, US Department of Energy classified information (mainly related to nuclear physics) comprised 280 million pages, notes Galison. An incredible number of documents are classified in this country each year and $5.5 billion is spent keeping them secret.
agnotology book cover
Other chapters investigate the roots of “scientific disinterest” or “structural apathy”: conscious decisions not to know or to reject specific knowledge. It is exemplified by the destruction of Maya codices in 1562 at the hands of Fray Diego de Landa, or the rejection of abortion methods for African and Asiatic women by a Europe determined to increase its birth rate. The same happened with the female genitalia, for a long time sunk in a cone of shadows when compared to the profuse study and representations of their male counterparts.
Although Socrates laid the groundwork for agnotology by saying “I only know that I know nothing,” it is only very recently that we have realized the cosmic magnitude of what we still need to know. The optimism of modern science assumed that as our store of knowledge grew, ignorance would diminish and eventually disappear. It is now clear that each advance raises new questions and teaches us how much remains to be discovered and understood. Paradoxically, the horizon of absolute knowledge recedes as we learn more.
Although Socrates laid the groundwork for agnotology by saying “I only know that I know nothing,” it is only very recently that we have realized the cosmic magnitude of what we still need to know.
you know how to be forgotten
The authors of this book are not content to condemn malicious doubts and useless secrets; They defend that ignorance can be virtuous, that is, necessary, and not just as an incentive to research.
The anonymity of the author of an article is essential for it to be evaluated without bias; privacy — others’ ignorance of our privacy — is essential in a democratic society; and certain knowledge must be forgotten or not developed, such as the design of weapons of mass destruction or human cloning techniques. Furthermore, the precautionary principle has shown how the prevailing ignorance in certain areas of climate change can be turned into a guide to action.
Despite the uneven interest of the chapters, they all make it clear that ignorance is something much more complex than a simple cognitive deficit. At the end of its reading, we learn that it is built; that it does not inevitably entail disadvantages for the ignorant; that it exerts a fundamental and pervasive influence on human cognition; and that it is an essential component of culture and social relations.
Familiarizing ourselves with agnotology would help us better manage our ignorance and thus face phenomena such as fake news with less alarmism.
Knowing agnotology would help us better manage our ignorance and, thus, face phenomena such as fake news with less alarmism and not let ourselves be seduced by the false certainties of conspiracy theories, among other peculiarities of the hyper-informed 21st century, plagued by uncertainties.
