Deliberate Ignorance Choosing Not to Know

Psychologists, economists, historians, computer scientists, sociologists, philosophers, and legal scholars explore the conscious choice not to seek information.

The history of intellectual thought abounds with claims that knowledge is valued and sought, yet individuals and groups often choose not to know. We call the conscious choice not to seek or use knowledge (or information) deliberate ignorance. When is this a virtue, when is it a vice, and what can be learned from formally modeling the underlying motives? On which normative grounds can it be judged? Which institutional interventions can promote or prevent it? In this book, psychologists, economists, historians, computer scientists, sociologists, philosophers, and legal scholars explore the scope of deliberate ignorance.

Ralph Hertwig is Director at the Max Planck Institute of Human Development in Berlin and Honorary Professor of Psychology at the Humboldt and Free Universities in Berlin. Christoph Engel is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn, and Professor of Law at the Universities of Bonn and Rotterdam.