Reflections on Ignorance-The Meaning

     This blog is part of a semester-long project for my Introduction to Mass Communication Course [COM111]. In this blog I hope to explore some topics that interest me, and in doing so I hope to grow in my knowledge of how this medium of mass communications functions. So, without further ado, I introduce the blog: Reflections on Ignorance. 

    This title is partly inspired from some experiences in my postmodern philosophy course last spring with Dr. Tadie. That class, combined with almost all of my other philosophy courses, has helped shine a light on my profound ignorance. This may seem harsh, but one of the great takeaways from recognizing our ignorance is the peace that it can give us. I do not hold all of the answers to the deepest philosophical questions in my hand, and neither does anyone else. Rather, in my limitations and weakness I bring myself to the fundamental questions that lie at the heart of our existence. Oh, so profound. My intention is not to be cliché, but it seems unavoidable. 

    The history of philosophy is founded upon this humility, or at least a striving after of this humility, and the individual who serves as a great example in this regard is none other than Socrates. He annoyed and frustrated many people, but he also gained the attention and respect of some. Now he has an immortal place in the philosophical mind of Western civilization. What motivated this? He desired to know, and he recognized his own lack of knowledge. He pressed into those who claimed to know: public teachers, religious figures, anyone he could find that claimed to know. He so desired knowledge that he pursued this at the expense of his reputation and, arguably the most honorable part of his existence, his life. He was accused of corrupting the youth and dishonoring the gods. He simply wanted to know, and is this not a desire that fuels all human life? At least I feel like it should. 

    Without a profound desire and pursuit of knowledge, it appears that our very humanity is in some sense lost or neglected. We have been endowed with this capacity to know, and it separates us (some would disagree) from the rest of creation. How can we then make excuses for diminishing our existence through a hyperfixation on safety and comfort? Socrates, and so many others to follow in the East and West, would simply be ashamed! We must acknowledge our desire to know, and then follow it! This takes humility, and that is painful. I am consistently trying to work on this. I want to pursue the Truth that has first called out to me (and this call is universal). If I searched after a truth that only I fabricated, what exactly would the adventure be? The call would come forth from my very self, so what kind of adventure and vitality could be produced from my poverty? I hope this blog can be an example of such striving after Truth. I hope to post short (400-500) word reflections on what I do not know, which I think will show forth what little I do know. This may takes us into politics, theology, history, etc. I know that it will surely bring us back to philosophy. Socrates, and certainly those who preceded him, began this journey for knowledge, and it is a great blessing to take part in this perennial tradition of reflecting on our ignorance.