THIS IS AN IMPORTANT AND
impressive book that deserves our atten-
tion. Although it’s not a perfect book, its
author, a professor of philosophy at Gettys-
burg College in Pennsylvania, displays deep
thought and wide reading, and traverses a
broad canvas in understanding ignorance. On
the whole the writing is accessible to patient
general readers, and DeNicola carefully
introduces them to the technical language of
the theory of knowledge (or ‘epistemology’,
as it is known in the business).46 Philosophy Now ●^ August/September 2019 Book ReviewsBooks
He considers Ignorance under three cate-
gories:(1) Known unknowns – what I know I don’t
know;
(2) Unknown unknowns – what I don’t know
I don’t know; and
(3) Unknown knowns – what I don’t know I
know; for example tacit knowledge, or what
I have forgotten before being reminded.The many variations of these categories
are analysed in an accessible way. More diffi-
cult are the categories of understanding, since
the distinction between understanding and
knowledge is subtle. Knowledge can be
conceived as information, where I know the
description and specification of something;
while understanding is the integration of vari-
ous sets of information in ways that build up
systemic relationships between them in your
mind. In this state I know the description and
specification of something and can evaluate
and apply what I know, as well as be aware of
different understandings of that information.
DeNicola first examines the various
reasons and ways that people remain igno-
rant in a knowledge sense, that is, in terms of
sheer information. He leads us to recognise
that even the cleverest of us may fail to notice
particular pieces of subtle information
(perhaps of a personal kind), resulting in
specific forms of misunderstanding. From
here the author undertakes a more complex
examination of how such ignorance comes
about, as well as cases where ignorance may
be deliberately chosen.
Several times the author also raises the
question of ‘innocence’ as a form of ignorance.
He makes the following salient observation:“[When] innocence is prolonged and
enforced, moral maturity is kept out of
reach. The restriction of experience, the
prohibitions and censorship of knowledge
that such sustained naiveté would likely
require, become a kind of imposed igno-
rance... [such innocence does] not cross the
threshold of moral maturity” (p.53).I also found the following lines especially
important: “Only recognition of the possibil-
ity of our own ignorance opens a cognitive
space for unlearning false knowledge or for
genuine learning (or an improved igno-
rance)” (p.186); and “Within the horizon of
the unknown, we may come to seek a learned
ignorance, to understand our search for
knowledge not as a quest for certainty, but as
an attempt to refine, improve, and moralizeful this structure is, since each chapter adds
to the overall argument. Nevertheless, it
provides a good understanding of misogyny
using current and prominent case studies,
such as the misogynist behaviour Donald
Trump exerted towards Hilary Clinton. It
will make its readers critically question
gender relations and stir a productive anger,
encouraging them to do something about
inherently misogynistic systems of power.
© AMBER EDWARDS 2019
Amber Edwards is a librarian working at an inter-
national school in Rome. It's a good bit warmer
than Aberdeen, where she studied Philosophy.- Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny, by Kate
Manne, 2017, OUP, 368 pages, $27.95, ISBN 978-
0190604981827842-7
and/or crimes of sexual violence. Manne
likens this to Hannah Arendt’s findings in
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banal-
ity of Evil(1963), and explains that we need
to recognise the banality of misogyny and
accept that the misogynist need not neces-
sarily be a monster or a caricature.
The book covers a diverse range of
concepts to build a persuasive argument for
the nature and characteristics of misogyny,
providing a comprehensive understanding of
the term from a philosophical point of view.
However, Manne only touches on misogy-
noir and purposely omits transmisogyny. She
frequently comments on how certain issues
are beyond her paygrade and are therefore
not discussed. Rather than limiting herself to
the stance of a (self-professed) highly privi-
leged white middle class, het, cis, non-
disabled woman, she might have found that
incorporating some different identity politics
enabled her to present a fuller picture. The
same can also be said regarding the assump-
tion the author makes that her readers will
have a philosophical background, whenever
she references fallacies and other philosoph-
ical concepts with no further explanation.
The book also rather ironically lacks a certain
amount of criticism of social hierarchies and
systems of power.
Although it’s a dense text, Down Girlis an
interesting read for anybody wanting to
know more about social inequality. The
book is designed so that readers can
approach each chapter independently,
although it is questionable as to how success-MA
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4.^0
Understanding Ignorance
by Daniel R. DeNicola