Knowledge and Ignorance seem to be two opposite words. Ignorance can be a very uncomfortable spot to find ourselves, but taking a deep look at it, I think Ignorance and knowledge are two sides of the same coin.
Just as it's quite common for people to be ignorant of something, it's also possible for someone to know something that is totally false.
In fact, the latter is more dangerous. Truly, having a false knowledge is more toxic because it is backed by a fake belief system.
FALSE KNOWLEDGE
False knowledge might sound like a bogus paradox, but I believe it's possible. We each have our individual truths that we hold onto, but when we know a greater truth, we then look back and see that what we knew was false.A better example; many scientific discoveries have made so many theories obsolete but those theories were considered factual knowledge in the past.
EMBRACING IGNORANCE
There are different kinds of ignorance; There is the Foolish ignorance which is carefree and doesn't want to learn.There is the Invisible ignorance in which you simply do not know of your ignorance.
Embracing the right type of ignorance is when we open ourselves to learning new things, it's when you observe your current belief systems from a perspective that they might not be the whole truth.
It's simply saying to yourself "hey, I could be wrong".
PHILOSOPY OF SOCRATES
I believe Socrates was the most badass philosopher that ever lived. He definitely pulled the biggest social experiment in ancient Greece. In fact, all these fake pranksters on youtube got nothing on Socrates.The story of Socrates simply goes like this; There was a widespread rumor that Socrates was the wisest man in the Land.
Socrates being fully aware of his potential ignorance went out and consulted with all the intellectuals in their different fields, He would ask them Intellectually simulating questions and when they answered he would basically just shit on what the person said and point out the logical fallacies.
He certainly pissed off a lot of people, they had the invincible ignorance, they just couldn't see their false knowledge or choose not to, and the frustrating thing for them was that if they asked SOCRATES the same question, he would simply reply "I don't know."
Socrates often referred to himself as a Gadfly, he didn't get along with so many intellectuals but he had a following. He was an unrepentant sceptic, he believed that no one can claim to know it all, irrespective of your field.
It wasn't long before charges were brought against him for corrupting the minds of the youth and defying the gods, his defense was documented in "The Apology of Socrates" written by his student Plato, apology, in this case, doesn't mean pleading. The previous meaning of "apology" is "defense".
Socrates defended himself till the end, even though he was asked to choose to denounce his philosophy or be sentenced to death.
He chose death, a badass to the end, he lived by his famous philosophy; "The only thing I know is that I know nothing".
I believe that true knowledge lies within the philosophy of Socrates. what do you think?
Thanks for reading.
image source from pixabay1