The Disturbing Limits of Knowledge and the Creative Potential of Ignorance

We prize knowledge, and rightly so. We think of ignorance as a bad thing. But ignorance is inseparable from what we know.

Knowledge can distract us, mislead us and endanger us. While ignorance is often the most fundamental insight about our human condition. Ignorance is not simply the opposite of knowledge, but a positive force with its own momentum that gives meaning to our lives. It drives scientific discovery, fosters creativity and can be psychologically helpful.

That’s why Rory Stewart wants to make a radical case for embracing ignorance. He wants to encourage a way of knowing in which knowledge and ignorance exist in a relationship with each other.

With a cast of global thinkers, drawing on Western and Eastern ideas from the ancient world to the present day, Rory explores how a greater awareness and appreciation of ignorance can help us become more clear-thinking, humble, empathetic and wise.

Writer and presenter: Rory Stewart Producer: Dan Tierney Mixing: Tony Churnside Editor: Tim Pemberton Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke

Readings by Rhiannon Neads

Contributions across the series from:

Alex Edmans - Professor of Finance at London Business School. Ani Rinchen Khandro - a life ordained nun in the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Annette Martin - Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Antony Gormley - sculptor. Carlo Rovelli - Theoretical physicist and Professor in the Department of Physics at Aix-Marseille University. Daniel DeNicola - Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania – and author of ‘Understanding Ignorance: The Surprising Impact of What We Don't Know’ (2018). Daniel Whiteson - Professor of Physics at The University of California, Irvine. Derek Black - Author of ‘The Klansman’s Son: My Journey from White Nationalism to Antiracism’ (2024). Edith Hall - Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History, at Durham University. Fabienne Peter - Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. Felix Martin - economist and fund manager. Iain McGilchrist - Psychiatrist, neuroscience researcher, philosopher and literary scholar. James C. Scott - Anthropologist and Sterling Professor Emeritus in Political Science at Yale University. Jay Owens - Author of ‘Dust: The Modern World in a Trillion Particles’ (2023). John Lloyd - Television and radio comedy producer and writer. Jonathan Evans, Baron Evans of Weardale - Former Director General of MI5. Karen Douglas - Professor of social psychology at the University of Kent. Mark Lilla - professor of humanities at Columbia University, New York City and author of ‘Ignorance and Bliss: On Wanting Not to Know’ (2024). Martin Palmer - Theologian, sinologist and translator of Daoist and Confucian texts. Mary Beard - Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge. Michael Ignatieff - Professor in the Department of History at Central European University in Budapest and former Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. Neil Hannon - singer-songwriter and frontman of The Divine Comedy. Nicholas Gruen - policy economist and social commentator. Rik Peels - Professor of Philosophy, Theology and Religion at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and author of ‘Ignorance: A Philosophical Study (2023)’. Robert Beckford - Theologian and Professor of Climate and Social Justice at the University of Winchester. Rowan Williams - Theologian and former Archbishop of Canterbury. Sandrine Parageau - Professor of Early Modern British History at Sorbonne University and author of ‘The Paradoxes of Ignorance in Early Modern England and France’ (2023). Stuart Firestein - Professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia University, New York City and author of ‘Ignorance: How It Drives Science’ (2012). Tom Forth - data scientist, Head of Data at ‘Open Innovations’ and co-founder of ‘The Data City’.