...“If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you'll never learn,” is what Ray Bradbury said in his book, Fahrenheit 451. This ignorance, when discovered and learned from, can cause a surplus of wisdom and knowledge to appear. The resulting knowledge and wisdom that appear can cause a flurry of new ideas and different perspective to appear in people. Those who remain ignorant, however, are beguiled into remaining in their own world of false bliss. In Fahrenheit 451, several characters have displayed their ignorance, but not all of them have learned from their ignorance. Characters such as Montag and Faber did not hide their ignorance and therefore learned from it whereas characters such as Mildred remained hidden within their own ignorance....
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...Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance Rawls assumes that behind the veil of ignorance one would select the best decision that adheres to the two principals of justice. However, the lack of knowledge provided behind the veil of ignorance seems to do more harm than good to the decision maker. For example, if one behind the veil were to choose their economic system for their society; they might have a hard time selecting between a free market or socialized economy based off of simple facts. Though both have been practiced in reality it is not entirely possible to truly understand which competing scenario works the best for all participants given the amount of sample time and other factors that have influenced economics for the past 100 years. Therefore, from a rawlsian perspective one would not know which system provides the better benefits least advantaged. Behind the veil of ignorance one would only know the general facts about the world that they are entering, and even the restriction on the lack of knowledge of one’s personal place with in the system would not do much to solve the problem without more concise data, which is prohibited behind the veil. The lack of specific data handicaps the decision maker behind the veil of ignorance, potentially leading them to selecting the least right decision for their society. Even with reflective equilibrium this would allow decision makers unknowingly break the second principal of justice, thus unraveling his argument, as to truly understand the...
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...Guy Montag from Fahrenheit 451 deals with conflict in his society. In the book, the theme is ignorance against knowledge. Guy’s society gains ignorance through the media and his society’s way of controlling its people. Since Guy and the rest of the people in his society are exposed only to what is “normal”, they don’t get the chance to gain knowledge. Guy gains knowledge through Clarisse and Faber because they open up Guy’s viewpoints. However, when Guy tries to educate others it doesn’t always go smooth because of the society’s insistence that their society shouldn’t be changed. In the story, Guy himself shows his ignorance in the book by showing his possessed joy of burning books. Guy Montag tells about his joy for his job, “ It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.’’(pg.1)(paragraph 1) Guy himself shows ignorance by doing his job, which is burning...
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...In our world today, ignorance is a fluent trait in our population. People live through their lives in an ignorant bliss because they do not take time to look into reasoning beyond a normal perspective. Ignorance doesn’t necessarily refer to one’s knowledge in an academic sense but more so is one’s understanding of our surroundings and the world. It cannot be seen with a blind eye, but when looked at on a large scale, our population’s ignorance from our entertainment, inaccurate beliefs, and media will be the downfall of our misunderstood world. Ignorance often defines and influences our morals and social dramatic instances. We let our ego control our actions by only doing things if will be amusing or influential to our piers. This kind of thinking causes us to avoid seeing as things as they really are, instead we just agree with the majority’s view. The reason we think in this sense is because of our fear of the unknown. It is a fear that is not necessarily scary and normally we don’t even realize its existence, but when our ignorance begins to fade, we see how corrupt and self-centered our world is becoming. Ignorance mainly grows from our media that often solely influences our minds. For example, what we consider entertainment is drama, comedy, and reality shows on television. The drama people see usually effects how they think and how they look at others, though most people never take time to realize that all television drama is staged and made out to be...
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...The Veil of Ignorance The concept of justice is one that most people understand, but it is difficult to define. John Rawls give his take on its true meaning in his work, “A Theory of Justice”. In an attempt to explain what justice really is, Rawls uses what he calls a ‘veil of ignorance’. The function of the veil is to make it so that all members of a just society have no knowledge of their own identity, allowing true fairness and equality. Although the veil of ignorance is central to Rawls theory of justice, I believe that it is unrealistic and cannot be applied to real life. Under the veil of ignorance, Rawls thinks that all members of a society would agree to laws that are completely fair. If no one knows their wealth, class, or abilities, then each member would agree to the same rules. He states, “They do not know how the various alternatives will affect their particular case and they are obliged to evaluate principles solely on the basis of general consideration.”(Rawls 118) The veil is a completely hypothetical concept that Rawls uses to explain what justice means. I do agree that under this veil, the laws agreed upon would allow each person the same advantages or disadvantages. However, this veil of ignorance cannot be applied to reality because no such situation has ever existed. Each person has characteristics that cannot be taken away, so each person has a unique identity. No matter how fair a group of individuals tries to be, they will each work to benefit themselves...
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...Knowledge vs. Ignorance In fahrenheit 451 struggle revolves around the tension between knowledge and ignorance. Firemen destroy knowledge of all forms, books in perticlar. This doesn’t stop Montag though. He is given many struggles because he wants to learn. I feel like this is somewhat relevant to nowadays society. We faced with those who want to be knowledged but majority has turned to substance and have become consumed in it. Society in fahrenheit 451 is very similar to today’s society. The education system is at a falling point and ignorance is growing. What though should become more important substance or knowledge and growing to a person. Ignorance vs. knowledge is a very apparent theme in the Book “Fahrenheit 451". It is expressed subtly throughout the novel enough to make it apperent that the author, Ray Bradbury, wants you to understand the importance. The theme is expressed by characters of both sides, ignorant and knowledged. "Number one, as I said, quality of information. Number two: leisure to digest it. Number three: the right to carry out actions based on what we learn from the interaction in the first two." (81, part 2). This quotes is from later in the book, but it states how Faber used knowledge to his advantage compared to the rest of society. Many more quotes occur from Faber like this. He truley expresses his love and passion of the importance of knowledge in the book. To start what exactly is ignorance and knowledge? Who shows the two sides and how?...
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...#2) Rawls’ original position and the veil of ignorance play a part with each other and focus on how a state will ultimately end up if people decide to form a social contract. Considering there are differences between people, such as social status, education, endurance, sex, race, etc…, Rawls says to imagine a veil of ignorance so decisions are not influenced from a place of self-interest. When individual persons part of a society, put a veil of ignorance each individual will disregard and eliminate bias notions amongst each other in that society including their own self. “Let us assume, to fix ideas, that society is a more or less self-sufficient association of persons who in their relations to one another recognize certain rules of conduct as binding and who for the most part act in accordance with them.” (Nozick, XB pg. 94-95 Para. 5) Rawls is assuming here that a society put aside their differences and acts accordingly by way of tacit acknowledgement concerning rules of conduct that connect them to each other. The veil of ignorance is a significant part of Rawls’ original position. This gives Rawls’ concept of original position because there are no biases or judgmental decisions made and everyone in that society seeks the benefit of each other. Original position is then assumed since everyone in the supposed society is equal and has no bias opinions due to the veil of ignorance. Even though the original position is assumed and “…these rules specify a system of cooperation...
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...Paulo Gabriel L. Esguerra English IV 02/16/2014 “Ignorance is Sometimes Bliss” “Ignorance is Bliss”, the advice most people give when a person is facing a problem. When life gets tough and unyielding, it is better to ignore the problem. Why do you need to stress out over something that does not concern or benefit you in anyway? Why would you even want to care? That statement brings this sort of mentality to society and is the cause for many of the pain and sufferings in this world. Do you think that hunger and poverty would exist if everyone cared? Are the suffering not humans too that we can afford to turn a blind eye to what’s already in front of us? There are many ways to fix a problem; believe it or not, ignorance actually makes the situation worse. The problem will always exist if it hadn’t been dealt with, the question is if you will have the courage to face it. Courage isn’t the solution to everything. One may be the bravest soul around but may also be the most idiotic. The best way to face a problem is to “know thy enemy.” This method takes careful planning and extensive study on the subject though the results will be to your favour. Always remember the saying, “knowledge is power”; the more one is knowledgeable on the subject, the more opportunities present themselves and it will just come down to deciding the best course of action. A knowledgeable person will face a problem by exploiting its weaknesses and striking while the iron is hot. Timing...
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...Perception of Ignorance When it comes to culture and identity ignorance can play an important role between success and failure. The stories below will provide examples of how our ignorance as a society can determine how we perceive others as well as how we are perceived by others. Sonny’s Blues Sonny’s Blues is a short story that illustrates the ignorance of the narrator to his Brother Sonny’s dream of becoming a jazz musician. The narrator thinks that life flows on the ability to just make a living that people do not have to find happiness in working to live. However, this way of thinking is different for Sonny, For example, the narrator says “Well, look, Sonny, I’m sorry, don’t get mad. I just don’t altogether get it, that’s all. Name somebody—you know, a jazz musician you admire.” (Baldwin, 1957, pg.575). Sonny responds with “Bird” (Baldwin, 1957, pg.575) and the narrator responds with “who?” After lighting a cigarette and taking a step back from the conversation, the narrator realizes how out of touch from society he has become. He is shocked and entertained by the fact that his body is trembling. The narrator tells Sonny that he will have to be patient with his ignorance on who Charlie Parker is (Baldwin, 1957, pg.575). This is Sonny’s world through his own eyes and this is what happiness is to him, the culture of jazz playing is his identity. As stated above, Sonny relates to jazz in ways that the narrator cannot understand. The narrator’s ignorance of Sonny’s...
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...The Value of Ignorance The air you breath, the chair you’re sitting in, even the dreams you have are real as far as you know. Yet, imagine if it wasn’t. Imagine if everything in this world was a lie, not real, just a hallucination of sorts. It would be cruising knowing that everything that we’ve been taught is a lie. To make matters worse, there would be no way to go back and you could only dream of the blissful life that you once lead in a lie of a world. So is ignorance truly bliss? This is a question that both Plato and the Wachowski sibling try to answer in their respective works “Allegory Of The Cave” for Plato and The Matrix trilogy from the Wachowski siblings. In both works, they show us that the road to knowledge from ignorance is fraught with struggle yet does not end once you achieve...
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...unless an unequal distribution of these values is to everyone’s advantage, his argument is flawed by his reliance on the veil of ignorance and his two principles of justice that are difficult to apply in society. Imagine that you have set for yourself the task of developing a totally new social contract for today's society. How could you do so fairly? Although you could never actually eliminate all of your personal biases and prejudices, could you take steps at least to minimize them? In his book, A Theory of Justice, Rawls attempts to argue a position to do this very thing. He asks us to imagine a fantastic scene: a group of people are gathered to plan their own future society, hammering out the details of what will basically become a Social Contract. Rawls calls this the “Original Position.” In the Original Position, the future citizens do not yet know what part they will play in their upcoming society. They must design their society behind what Rawls calls the Veil of Ignorance. Rawls says in his book titled the A Theory of Justice, “No one knows his place in society, his class position or social status; nor does he know his fortune in the distribution of natural assets and abilities, his intelligence and strength, and the like.” (John 1971, Pg. 137.) Rawls suggests that you imagine yourself in an original position behind a veil of ignorance. Behind this veil, you know nothing of yourself and your natural abilities, or your position in...
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...Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." Ray Williams wrote the article “Anti-Intellectualism and the ‘Dumbing Down’ of America,” Williams argues that people are anti-intellectuals who dismiss the art of science, and humanities and replaced by entertainment, ignorance, and gullibility. These individuals believe they know and understand everything when in reality, all we are aware of happens to be replaced by ignorance. American culture is easily entertained and almost always uninformed however society doesn’t stop and questions what going on. American people accept media foolery such as what’s trending and the latest gossip without hesitation because...
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...into believing whatever is suitable to the government at the time. Orwell portrays doublethink as a real concept achievable by the residents of Oceania to show to the maximum degree, the dangers totalitarianism and human ignorance. Orwell exaggerates the extent to which humans can be ignorant to warn the reader about the dangers of this blind uniformity. In the very beginning of the story, the citizens of Oceania are forced to believe that the chocolate ration has been increased to be 20 grams, when the ration has actually...
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...Slaughterhouse-Five and Flatland Following in the footsteps of many science-fiction authors that came before them, both Kurt Vonnegut and Edwin A. Abbott employ the use of other dimensional creatures in order to teach the reader a lesson about society. In Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and Abbott’s Flatland, the authors provide the reader with hope that maybe ignorance and immorality can be abolished and that it is possible for a society to exist without these concepts, before ultimately disillusioning the reader and showing them that it is impossible for a society to exist without this, even in other dimensions. In Flatland this is shown through the sphere who, even as the prophet of the third dimension, cannot comprehend the concept of a fourth dimension. In Slaughterhouse-Five this is shown through the Tralfamadorians who, even as supremely intelligent fourth-dimensional creatures, cannot understand the idea of morality, and are more ignorant than any human being has ever been. By showing how creatures can have such a high level of ignorance and such little morality, the authors are trying to teach a lesson to the human race; ignorance and immorality will never stop occurring, as they are the inevitable fate of mankind. In the novel Flatland, Edwin A. Abbot gives the reader a glimpse into the eyes of a two-dimensional creature who must learn a lesson about the third dimension. A three-dimensional sphere ascends from space and attempts to teach the two-dimensional square...
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...Ignorance has lead to some of the world’s most devastating events in history; the Holocaust, World War I, and the Twin Tower attack on the eleventh of September 2001. Consequently, Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury has multiple examples of destruction and how it was caused because of a uniform society. The society in Fahrenheit 451 is constructing itself to lead to a horrific event because citizens are having ignorance towards books and individually as well as ideas. Therefore, individuality is worth fighting for otherwise, the ignorance will lead to prejudice and destruction, which is currently shown in several characters, demonstrating the importance of individuality. Individuality impacts innovation, maintains our identity it’s vital...
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