Self-Ignorance: Why Are We Afraid to Know Ourselves? | Prof. Arindam Chakrabarti

Nov 9, 2025

Prof. Arindam Chakrabarti, a philosopher from Ashoka University, delves into the perplexing nature of self-ignorance. He examines why knowing ourselves is both painful and rare, linking it to concepts from Advaita Vedanta. He contrasts modern ignorance with ancient insights, exploring Vedic metaphors that illustrate layers of unknowing. Chakrabarti argues that this ignorance, rather than being mere absence, plays a crucial role in enriching our experiences. He also discusses the fear tied to self-knowledge, revealing a profound connection to individuality and empathy.

01:37:16

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ANECDOTE

Medical Search And Proud Ignorance

Chakrabarti recounts long medical searches for his vocal-cord condition and the clinical admission, “we don't know.”
He notes modern institutions sometimes preserve ignorance and monetize uncertainty.

insights

INSIGHT

Ignorance As Positive Presence

Advaita treats ignorance (avidya) as a positive presence, like darkness that gives shape to what knowledge then reveals.
Madhusudana and post-Shankara texts argue knowledge lights up what a prior active ignorance had manifested.

question_answer

ANECDOTE

Valmiki's Self-Questioning Verse

Chakrabarti tells how Valmiki's spontaneous verse wondered about its own creation, modeling meta-questioning.
He highlights ancient texts that turn cosmological wonder into questions about speech and knowing.

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Why Are We Ignorant of Ourselves?

07:39 • 2min

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Rumsfeld, Agnotology, and the Politics of Ignorance

09:43 • 8min

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Vedic Metaphors: Darkness Covering Darkness

17:56 • 7min

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Analogy of Light and First Knowledge

25:18 • 6min

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What Does It Mean to Know?

31:28 • 4min

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Rigvedic Wonder: Who Witnessed the First Being?

35:47 • 8min

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Cosmogony as Phenomenology of Unknowing

44:13 • 6min

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Shankara's Threefold Definition of Avidya

50:31 • 5min

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Ignorance Gives Depth to Experience

55:27 • 2min

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The Paradox of Ignorance and Its Object

57:15 • 3min

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Can One Be Ignorant of Oneself?

59:47 • 2min

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Why Ignorance Must Be Positive

01:02:08 • 6min

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Witness Consciousness and Knowing Absence

01:08:33 • 2min

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Why We Fear Knowing the Self

01:10:41 • 7min

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Responses and Clarifications on Desire and Self-Knowledge

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All of us recall, upon waking up, that during deep sleep we knew nothing at all. But even when awake, while claiming so much scientific and practically useful knowledge about the material world, each of us, if honest, must confess: “I don’t know myself.” In this lecture, a contemporary philosophical analysis will be attempted of the intriguing Advaita Vedanta phenomenology of this common ignorance about the self as a positive ignorance (avidya) not just an absence of knowledge. Is the Self best known as unknown?

Arindam Chakrabarti is an Indian philosopher who is a professor of philosophy at Ashoka University, India. He is the disciple of Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath. He earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Calcutta in 1976 and 1978, respectively. He completed DPhil at Oxford University in 1982, under the supervision of Sir Peter Strawson and Michael Dummett.

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