Emergent Ignorance in the Digital Age: Linking Qualitative Ignorance Studies and Network Epistemology

Abstract

This paper explores the emergence of a new form of structural ignorance in the digital environment, one that arises from network connections rather than a lack of information or intentional deception. It bridges two distinct intellectual traditions that have historically not engaged with one another: the qualitative, normative field of ignorance studies (including scholars like Fricker, Mills, and Tuana) and the mathematical, formal tradition of network epistemology (including Zollman, O'Connor, and Weatherall). The study proposes a working distinction between individual false belief, circulating misinformation, and structural ignorance, subsequently using this framework to evaluate mathematical models against empirical evidence. The paper highlights how formal network models independently reproduce the agentless ignorance previously formulated in moral philosophy, offering a conceptual pathway to connect these domains and proposing new directions for future research.