Panel (Friday, 7 July): “Non-Knowledge is Power”? Transformations of the Concept of Ignorance in Enlightenment Literature and Culture
The self-awareness of ancient philosophy is based on overcoming ignorance, which is viewed pejoratively as an ‘aberration’ of the mind (Plato), the mark of the ‘fool’ (Stoics). Medieval authors have perpetuated this by association of ignorance with sin. With Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689) and its emphasis on the limits of the human mind, however, a shift in the discussion has been initiated. In the Enlightenment period, “ignorance […] became one of the decisive terms of contrast contouring the guiding concept of the epoch” (von Wille 182). Enlightenment discourses therefore frequently advocate that non-knowledge has been elevated, by applying reason, to docta ignorantia, the recognition of one’s own imperfection. From then on, the focus has been on different kinds of ignorance, theories of cognition, the progress of reason.
This panel explores how literature and culture engage
with this thesis and the surrounding discourses of
non-knowledge, ancient and modern, as well as the
proposed ‘breach’ with pejorative notions of ignorance.
We are interested in what terms are used in negotiating
epistemological limits. Specifically, we encourage
papers that examine representations of ignorance through
media-specific tools, for example, what types of
literary characters embody different practices of
dealing with non-knowledge.
For more information, see https://limitsofknowledge.eu