“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance,” declared Socrates. And from Ancient Greece through to the Enlightenment, we have believed that knowledge is the engine of civilisation—that to know is always to live better. Today, bombarded with information, we should be at our most vital. Yet, conflict intensifies, confusion grows, and communities fracture. From Pandora’s Box to Forbidden Fruit, “knowing” comes at a substantial cost. Nietzsche warned that knowledge as an ideal paralyses life, Ecclesiastes that whoever increases knowledge increases sorrow, and the Tao Te Ching that we must abandon learning for harmony. And with the proliferation of scientific knowledge with the potential to destroy humanity—from nuclear weapons to AI to biological warfare—many argue we are not ready for the knowledge we accumulate.
Was it a radical mistake to assume knowledge is always good? Is knowledge in fact an unattainable ideal, so that much of what we call knowledge is illusion, and the source of real harm? Or is it our essential defence against superstition and bigotry, and the only route to a better life?
Was it a radical mistake to assume knowledge is always good? Is knowledge in fact an unattainable ideal, so that much of what we call knowledge is illusion, and the source of real harm? Or is it our essential defence against superstition and bigotry, and the only route to a better life?
