How Do We Think about the Unknown? The Self-Awareness of Ignorance as a Tool for Managing the Anguish of Not Knowing. Sans Pinillos, A. & Magnani, L. In Arfini, S. & Magnani, L., editors, Embodied, Extended, Ignorant Minds: New Studies on the Nature of Not-Knowing, of Synthese Library, pages 191–207. Springer International Publishing, Cham, 2022. ![How Do We Think about the Unknown? The Self-Awareness of Ignorance as a Tool for Managing the Anguish of Not Knowing [link]](https://bibbase.org/img/filetypes/link.svg "link")
Paper doi abstract bibtex This chapter offers a revision of the concept of ignorance discussed in recent models of abduction. Both ignorance preservation (GW-schema) and the tentative explanationism (AKM-schema) will be reanalyzed from an ecological and distributed perspective on cognition, instead coherent with the so-called EC-Model of abduction. We are convinced that a successful revision of the notion of ignorance in both AKM-schema and GW-schema of abduction can be exactly realized thanks to the EC-model. These theories present ignorance as an absence that occurs when the agents cannot reach useful explanations of a phenomenon in their epistemic environment. This absence surprises them, and this emotion triggers agents’ abductive reasoning, which, in turn, mitigates their ignorance. Abduction offers the agents a guessed “provisional” hypothesis capable to solve the ignorance-problem. However, both the state of being ignorant of something and the mitigation of not-knowing are complex processes. If we describe the agents as parts of cognitive systems, we can see them as engaged with the so-called affordances, which always provide qualitative and procedural information capable to help and trigger abductive inferential processes. We will argue that when a possible relation with the fact, which is investigated is unknown, and so affordances are absent – and consequently “unknown” – the lack of available knowledge is absolute. When this happens, the agent is compelled to abduce from an unknown affordance: In this case, it is the agents’ self-awareness of their ignorance that plays a role of a helpful tool. The reached full self-awareness of the complete ignorance at stake triggers unusual chances that favor exceptional abductive inferential processes capable to manage the cognitive situation. At the same time, the agent may experience these cases characterized by unknown affordances with a high degree of anguish. Indeed, the hypothesis will be more strongly supported by the motivation and will of the agent than by the cognitive role played by commonly accepted data and will be formed by unusual intuitions and data considered strange or exceptional. We will illustrate that in these cases, the management of anxiety – and control of it – is committed to general principles of research integrity related to the role of cognizant’s responsibility for his own actions.
@incollection{sans_pinillos_how_2022,
address = {Cham},
series = {Synthese {Library}},
title = {How {Do} {We} {Think} about the {Unknown}? {The} {Self}-{Awareness} of {Ignorance} as a {Tool} for {Managing} the {Anguish} of {Not} {Knowing}},
isbn = {978-3-031-01922-7},
shorttitle = {How {Do} {We} {Think} about the {Unknown}?},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-01922-7_9},
abstract = {This chapter offers a revision of the concept of ignorance discussed in recent models of abduction. Both ignorance preservation (GW-schema) and the tentative explanationism (AKM-schema) will be reanalyzed from an ecological and distributed perspective on cognition, instead coherent with the so-called EC-Model of abduction. We are convinced that a successful revision of the notion of ignorance in both AKM-schema and GW-schema of abduction can be exactly realized thanks to the EC-model. These theories present ignorance as an absence that occurs when the agents cannot reach useful explanations of a phenomenon in their epistemic environment. This absence surprises them, and this emotion triggers agents’ abductive reasoning, which, in turn, mitigates their ignorance. Abduction offers the agents a guessed “provisional” hypothesis capable to solve the ignorance-problem. However, both the state of being ignorant of something and the mitigation of not-knowing are complex processes. If we describe the agents as parts of cognitive systems, we can see them as engaged with the so-called affordances, which always provide qualitative and procedural information capable to help and trigger abductive inferential processes. We will argue that when a possible relation with the fact, which is investigated is unknown, and so affordances are absent – and consequently “unknown” – the lack of available knowledge is absolute. When this happens, the agent is compelled to abduce from an unknown affordance: In this case, it is the agents’ self-awareness of their ignorance that plays a role of a helpful tool. The reached full self-awareness of the complete ignorance at stake triggers unusual chances that favor exceptional abductive inferential processes capable to manage the cognitive situation. At the same time, the agent may experience these cases characterized by unknown affordances with a high degree of anguish. Indeed, the hypothesis will be more strongly supported by the motivation and will of the agent than by the cognitive role played by commonly accepted data and will be formed by unusual intuitions and data considered strange or exceptional. We will illustrate that in these cases, the management of anxiety – and control of it – is committed to general principles of research integrity related to the role of cognizant’s responsibility for his own actions.},
language = {en},
urldate = {2023-08-29},
booktitle = {Embodied, {Extended}, {Ignorant} {Minds}: {New} {Studies} on the {Nature} of {Not}-{Knowing}},
publisher = {Springer International Publishing},
author = {Sans Pinillos, Alger and Magnani, Lorenzo},
editor = {Arfini, Selene and Magnani, Lorenzo},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-01922-7_9},
keywords = {Abductive reasoning, Anguish, Continuous trigger, OA, PRINTED (Fonds papier), Self-awareness of ignorance, Unknown affordance},
pages = {191--207},
}
Downloads: 0
{"_id":"DnACQMyzL2rBG7G7b","bibbaseid":"sanspinillos-magnani-howdowethinkabouttheunknowntheselfawarenessofignoranceasatoolformanagingtheanguishofnotknowing-2022","author_short":["Sans Pinillos, A.","Magnani, L."],"bibdata":{"bibtype":"incollection","type":"incollection","address":"Cham","series":"Synthese Library","title":"How Do We Think about the Unknown? The Self-Awareness of Ignorance as a Tool for Managing the Anguish of Not Knowing","isbn":"978-3-031-01922-7","shorttitle":"How Do We Think about the Unknown?","url":"https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-01922-7_9","abstract":"This chapter offers a revision of the concept of ignorance discussed in recent models of abduction. Both ignorance preservation (GW-schema) and the tentative explanationism (AKM-schema) will be reanalyzed from an ecological and distributed perspective on cognition, instead coherent with the so-called EC-Model of abduction. We are convinced that a successful revision of the notion of ignorance in both AKM-schema and GW-schema of abduction can be exactly realized thanks to the EC-model. These theories present ignorance as an absence that occurs when the agents cannot reach useful explanations of a phenomenon in their epistemic environment. This absence surprises them, and this emotion triggers agents’ abductive reasoning, which, in turn, mitigates their ignorance. Abduction offers the agents a guessed “provisional” hypothesis capable to solve the ignorance-problem. However, both the state of being ignorant of something and the mitigation of not-knowing are complex processes. If we describe the agents as parts of cognitive systems, we can see them as engaged with the so-called affordances, which always provide qualitative and procedural information capable to help and trigger abductive inferential processes. We will argue that when a possible relation with the fact, which is investigated is unknown, and so affordances are absent – and consequently “unknown” – the lack of available knowledge is absolute. When this happens, the agent is compelled to abduce from an unknown affordance: In this case, it is the agents’ self-awareness of their ignorance that plays a role of a helpful tool. The reached full self-awareness of the complete ignorance at stake triggers unusual chances that favor exceptional abductive inferential processes capable to manage the cognitive situation. At the same time, the agent may experience these cases characterized by unknown affordances with a high degree of anguish. Indeed, the hypothesis will be more strongly supported by the motivation and will of the agent than by the cognitive role played by commonly accepted data and will be formed by unusual intuitions and data considered strange or exceptional. We will illustrate that in these cases, the management of anxiety – and control of it – is committed to general principles of research integrity related to the role of cognizant’s responsibility for his own actions.","language":"en","urldate":"2023-08-29","booktitle":"Embodied, Extended, Ignorant Minds: New Studies on the Nature of Not-Knowing","publisher":"Springer International Publishing","author":[{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Sans","Pinillos"],"firstnames":["Alger"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Magnani"],"firstnames":["Lorenzo"],"suffixes":[]}],"editor":[{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Arfini"],"firstnames":["Selene"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Magnani"],"firstnames":["Lorenzo"],"suffixes":[]}],"year":"2022","doi":"10.1007/978-3-031-01922-7_9","keywords":"Abductive reasoning, Anguish, Continuous trigger, OA, PRINTED (Fonds papier), Self-awareness of ignorance, Unknown affordance","pages":"191–207","bibtex":"@incollection{sans_pinillos_how_2022,\n\taddress = {Cham},\n\tseries = {Synthese {Library}},\n\ttitle = {How {Do} {We} {Think} about the {Unknown}? {The} {Self}-{Awareness} of {Ignorance} as a {Tool} for {Managing} the {Anguish} of {Not} {Knowing}},\n\tisbn = {978-3-031-01922-7},\n\tshorttitle = {How {Do} {We} {Think} about the {Unknown}?},\n\turl = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-01922-7_9},\n\tabstract = {This chapter offers a revision of the concept of ignorance discussed in recent models of abduction. Both ignorance preservation (GW-schema) and the tentative explanationism (AKM-schema) will be reanalyzed from an ecological and distributed perspective on cognition, instead coherent with the so-called EC-Model of abduction. We are convinced that a successful revision of the notion of ignorance in both AKM-schema and GW-schema of abduction can be exactly realized thanks to the EC-model. These theories present ignorance as an absence that occurs when the agents cannot reach useful explanations of a phenomenon in their epistemic environment. This absence surprises them, and this emotion triggers agents’ abductive reasoning, which, in turn, mitigates their ignorance. Abduction offers the agents a guessed “provisional” hypothesis capable to solve the ignorance-problem. However, both the state of being ignorant of something and the mitigation of not-knowing are complex processes. If we describe the agents as parts of cognitive systems, we can see them as engaged with the so-called affordances, which always provide qualitative and procedural information capable to help and trigger abductive inferential processes. We will argue that when a possible relation with the fact, which is investigated is unknown, and so affordances are absent – and consequently “unknown” – the lack of available knowledge is absolute. When this happens, the agent is compelled to abduce from an unknown affordance: In this case, it is the agents’ self-awareness of their ignorance that plays a role of a helpful tool. The reached full self-awareness of the complete ignorance at stake triggers unusual chances that favor exceptional abductive inferential processes capable to manage the cognitive situation. At the same time, the agent may experience these cases characterized by unknown affordances with a high degree of anguish. Indeed, the hypothesis will be more strongly supported by the motivation and will of the agent than by the cognitive role played by commonly accepted data and will be formed by unusual intuitions and data considered strange or exceptional. We will illustrate that in these cases, the management of anxiety – and control of it – is committed to general principles of research integrity related to the role of cognizant’s responsibility for his own actions.},\n\tlanguage = {en},\n\turldate = {2023-08-29},\n\tbooktitle = {Embodied, {Extended}, {Ignorant} {Minds}: {New} {Studies} on the {Nature} of {Not}-{Knowing}},\n\tpublisher = {Springer International Publishing},\n\tauthor = {Sans Pinillos, Alger and Magnani, Lorenzo},\n\teditor = {Arfini, Selene and Magnani, Lorenzo},\n\tyear = {2022},\n\tdoi = {10.1007/978-3-031-01922-7_9},\n\tkeywords = {Abductive reasoning, Anguish, Continuous trigger, OA, PRINTED (Fonds papier), Self-awareness of ignorance, Unknown affordance},\n\tpages = {191--207},\n}\n\n","author_short":["Sans Pinillos, A.","Magnani, L."],"editor_short":["Arfini, S.","Magnani, L."],"key":"sans_pinillos_how_2022","id":"sans_pinillos_how_2022","bibbaseid":"sanspinillos-magnani-howdowethinkabouttheunknowntheselfawarenessofignoranceasatoolformanagingtheanguishofnotknowing-2022","role":"author","urls":{"Paper":"https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-01922-7_9"},"keyword":["Abductive reasoning","Anguish","Continuous trigger","OA","PRINTED (Fonds papier)","Self-awareness of ignorance","Unknown affordance"],"metadata":{"authorlinks":{}}},"bibtype":"incollection","biburl":"http://bibbase.org/zotero-group/science_et_ignorance/1340424","dataSources":["zX4acseCDM6D58AW7","5XkfmA9xajmKjWGio"],"keywords":["abductive reasoning","anguish","continuous trigger","oa","printed (fonds papier)","self-awareness of ignorance","unknown affordance"],"search_terms":["think","unknown","self","awareness","ignorance","tool","managing","anguish","knowing","sans pinillos","magnani"],"title":"How Do We Think about the Unknown? The Self-Awareness of Ignorance as a Tool for Managing the Anguish of Not Knowing","year":2022}