Is ignorance a bliss?

If ignorance is indeed bliss, as Thomas Gray said in Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College (1742), a will to ignorance is as strong as any interest in knowledge. Our own experience confirms Aristotle pronouncement that all human beings want to know. However, we seem to be passing through a historical period when the denial of knowledge is acceptable even desired. Centuries after the quest for enlightenment, we now seem to have turned toward the search for ignorance. It’s no wonder then that mesmerized crowds follow preposterous prophets, irrational rumors trigger fanatical acts, and magical thinking crowds our common sense. In Ignorance and Bliss, historian Mark Lilla offers an intellectual travelogue of the human will not to know.   

A professor of humanities at Columbia University, Lilla’s arguments in favor of ignorance are compelling and insightful. Indeed, he offers an amazing insight into our incorrigible attachment to ignorance. It seems after spending epochs in the search of knowledge, humans are now taking a holiday from reality. No wonder, the resistance to knowledge is now being backed by supportive ideologies. In the face of such developments, those devoted to reasoning have now started to feel like refugees.

Knowledge is power, it is true, but who has as yet acknowledged the power of ignorance that is increasing by the day? Is ignorance without power? Some people are naturally curious about learning why; others, however, are indifferent to it. There are reasons to avoid knowing about particular things, and many of those reasons not to know are perfectly justified. And then there are those who have developed a disinterest in gaining such knowledge simply because they believe that what they already know is the truth.

Lilla provokes his readers to dwell on the subject. The most obvious resistance to knowing is rooted in fear. People often resist any questioning of their morality and religiosity because they fear being exposed. By questioning firm and widely held beliefs, people run the risk of upsetting the ideas that they have built their lives around. This is especially frightening when there is guarantee of any satisfactory replacement. However, if ever questions have to be raised without any chance of them being resisted, it can only happen in a state of total ignorance. So, yes, there are reasons to value ignorance.    

Ignorance and Bliss is all about how ignorance ought to be viewed and how it should be valued. It views ignorance independent of bliss, and for good reasons. In this era when politics is beset by lies and fake news, it is worth asking if the root cause of the problem lies with the public. It would seem that the general public has accepted lies and fake news and its effects too. There is no escape from such a trap. This book then is about the will not to know as well as the desire to remain ignorant.

Gaining knowledge is an emotional experience and resisting it is an emotional one too. How to live with such contrasting emotions is this book’s focus, and our present predicament. The intimate struggles with aspects of self-knowledge feature prominently here. Of course, even self-knowledge depends on resisting other kinds of knowledge about the world. The chapter about fantasy explores that power within us that resist acknowledging reality. There lies a human dilemma that continues to grow and expand.  

Lilla explores several human sentiments like innocence, nostalgia, emptiness, and taboo to gain clarity on the knowledge-ignorance dilemma. That clarity is hard to get because the search for an answer often remains subjective. Knowledge and ignorance co-exist; one doesn’t exist without the other. There seems to be a reason for this: the less we know the more we realize the limits of knowledge. On the contrary, the more we know, the more we are challenged to learn still more. And so, it never ends. And the dilemma persists.

Fascinating and challenging, Ignorance and Bliss make the compelling argument that a will to ignorance is as strong within us as any desire for knowledge. Alas, such are the times that wanting not to know is much stronger than wanting to know. And that way madness lies.  

Ignorance and Bliss
by Mark Lilla
Hurst, New York
Extent:216. Price: Rs 1,765

Published in Hindustan Times on Dec 12, 2025.

The will to ignorance is as strong as the desire to know

If ignorance is indeed bliss, as a poet once wrote, it also can be said that human beings “are creatures who want to know and not to know.” The world, writes Mark Lilla in his timely book, Ignorance and Bliss, is going through a phase in which the denial of “evident truth” is rising. It’s a world where “mesmerized crowds still follow preposterous prophets, irrational rumors trigger fanatical acts, and magical thinking crowds out common sense and expertise.”

Holiday from reality

A professor of humanities at Columbia University, Lilla’s arguments that people seem to favor ignorance are compelling. In these murky days when everything seems to be at sea, Lilla offers an amazing insight on the human being’s incorrigible “will to ignorance,” a term coined by Nietzsche. It seems after spending a lifetime searching for knowledge, humans have taken “a holiday from reality.” No wonder, resistance to knowledge is now being backed by an ideology that is supportive. In the face of such developments, those devoted to reason and logic have started to feel like refugees.

Quoting from George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda, Lilla asks: “It is a common sentence that knowledge is power; but who hath duly considered or set forth the power of ignorance?” While some people are naturally curious about learning why, there are many others who are indifferent. There are reasons to avoid knowing about particular things, and many of those reasons not to know are perfectly justified. And then there are those who have developed a disinterest for gaining knowledge simply because they believe what they already know is the truth.

Lilla provokes readers to think about this. In the Introduction, he writes that Aristotle taught that all human beings want to know. “Our own experiences teach us that all human beings also want not to know, sometimes fiercely so.” The most obvious resistance to knowing is rooted in fear. People resist any aspect that is related to their morality and religiosity being questioned, because they are afraid of getting exposed. By questioning such firm beliefs, people run the risk of upsetting ideas they’ve built their lives around, with no guarantee of any satisfactory replacement. However, if ever questions have to be raised without any chance of them being resisted, it has to take place in a state of total ignorance.

Imagined pasts

Ignorance and Bliss is all about how ignorance ought to be viewed and how indeed it should get valued. It views ignorance independent of bliss, and for good reason. At this time when politics is filled with lies and fake news, the question worth asking is whether the root cause of the problem lies with the public.

Gaining knowledge is an emotional experience and resisting knowledge is an emotional experience too. How to live with such contrasting emotions in a given time is the focus of the book, and our present predicament. The intimate struggles with aspects of self-knowledge feature prominently in it. Even self-knowledge depends on resisting other kinds of knowledge about the world. The chapters in the book concern fantasies, exploring that power in us which inspires resistance to acknowledging reality.

Lilla explores several human sentiments like innocence, nostalgia, emptiness, and taboo, to get some clarity on the knowledge/ignorance dilemma. Clarity is hard, because the search for an answer often remains subjective. Knowledge and ignorance co-exist. Those who feel ignorance is bliss may actually have a “distaste for the present” and go rushing to “restore an imagined past,” says Lilla. On the contrary, the more we know leaves us with the challenge to know more. A quest that never ends.

Fascinating and challenging, the book makes a compelling argument that a will to ignorance is as strong in us as any desire to have knowledge, and that we are caught between the will to know and the will not to know. Such are the times that wanting not to know appears to be much stronger than wanting to know.

Ignorance and Bliss 
by Mark Lilla
Hurst, New York 
Extent: 219, Price: Rs. 1,765.

First published in The Hindu on May 15, 2025