The Virtues of Ignorance: Complexity, Sustainability, and the Limits of Knowledge

Culture of the Land

by Bill Vitek (Editor), Wes Jackson (Editor)

Human dependence on technology has increased exponentially over the past several centuries, and so too has the notion that we can fix environmental problems with scientific applications. The Virtues of Ignorance: Complexity, Sustainability, and the Limits of Knowledge proposes an alternative to this hubristic, shortsighted, and dangerous worldview. The contributors argue that uncritical faith in scientific knowledge has created many of the problems now threatening the planet and that our wholesale reliance on scientific progress is both untenable and myopic. Bill Vitek, Wes Jackson, and a diverse group of thinkers, including Wendell Berry, Anna Peterson, and Robert Root-Bernstein, offer profound arguments for the advantages of an ignorance-based worldview. Their essays explore this philosophy from numerous perspectives, including its origins, its essence, and how its implementation can preserve vital natural resources for posterity. All conclude that we must simply accept the proposition that our ignorance far exceeds our knowledge and always will. Rejecting the belief that science and technology are benignly at the service of society, the authors argue that recognizing ignorance might be the only path to reliable knowledge. They also uncover an interesting paradox: knowledge and insight accumulate fastest in the minds of those who hold an ignorance-based worldview, for by examining the alternatives to a technology-based culture, they expand their imaginations. Demonstrating that knowledge-based worldviews are more dangerous than useful, The Virtues of Ignorance looks closely at the relationship between the land and the future generations who will depend on it. The authors argue that we can never improve upon nature but that we can, by putting this new perspective to work in our professional and personal lives, live sustainably on Earth.

Genres: Sustainability

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Skipr · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an important collection of essays. Focused primarily on the natural world and our place in it, the argument that we should approach complex problems cautiously with humility recognizing that our "solutions" always have unintended consequences has application in politics, policy, and even our relationships with one another. As Wes Jackson one of the co-editors says, “We are billions of times more ignorant than knowledgeable and always will be.” This is not a call for doing nothing, nor is it a case against the pursuit of knowledge, rather a plea that we recognize the limits of our knowledge and act accordingly. There is considerable diversity among the essayists, and I did not agree with all the explanations and arguments presented. In fact, I think some of the essayists are dead wrong in their conclusions. Nevertheless, this is an unusual, persuasive, and highly countercultural call to replace the prevailing presumptuous, reductionist, knowledge-centered worldview with a more realistic, circumspect, and in many ways, conservative approach to the world we live in.

This is dense reading. No breezing through this, at least for me, which is why it took me over four months to finish. But it was well worth it.

[William Burruss · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Complexity, Sustainability, and the Limits of Knowledge” is written on the book’s cover. I read it because of my interest in “sustainability,” but I certainly learned something about “complexity” and “limits of knowledge.” Unfortunately, I felt lost with the philosophical rhetoric. I needed to whip out my old college books on the philosophers to connect the dots from Socrates to Alfred North Whitehead. The plus side to this book is that the contributors are passionate about the topic of sustainability, knowledge, ignorance, and how we need to care for our planet’s natural resources. The multiple essays on ignorance and how ignorance is treated in the fields of medicine, science, and economics are excellent. Robert Root-Bernstein’s, “I Don’t Know” should be required reading to students in the 8th grade. Finishing, I felt that I had learned a new way to communicate on “sustainability,” but I also was let down because much of the dialogue was written for the scholar and not the common man.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has profoundly changed my viewpoint on science, knowledge, and uncertainty. I read it first over a decade ago, and have referred to many chapters of it since then. This second read through only ossifies my thoughts. This is an extremely important book.

[Stuart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished this a long time ago, and I left my copy in Pittsburgh, but generally I thought the quality of the essays varied significantly, and found myself wanting to skip several of them entirely. I was hoping for something tied a little closer to formal notions of complexity and knowledge, which this work doesn't provide.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish this one was a little better executed because it really is an important subject. There shouldn't have been any need for all the Greek philosophy lessons and overly complicated explanations. Nothing against Wes Jackson though. This one is still worth a read. Definitely better than Nassim Taleb's Antifragile in my opinion.

[Toothy_grin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essays by a variety of thinkers on humanity's need to learn to accept limits - on our thinking, on our beliefs, and on our behavior, if we are to survive. Essential.

[Diogenes Grief · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, this book has some very good points, but it gets bogged down too many times in what I'll humorously label as "scholarly masturbation." That is, writing for the sake of writing. Oh well.