Knowledge

If I hold a different world view than you, do you view me as wrong or ignorant?

Comments

What are the differences between wrong and ignorant? I guess that you can be ignorant without being wrong, since ignorance may involve having no idea what the answer is. And perhaps you can be wrong without being ignorant, if nobody is in a position to know the right answer, or if say your error is the result of a mistake in a difficult calculation. But maybe the contrast you have in mind is brought out by someone who is ignorant by being wrong in a case where he or she should have known better. Let's go with that.

The next challenge is what 'world view' means. Let's suppose that it means some broad philosophical position, like materialism/dualism, realism/anti-realism, realism/nominalism, consequentialism/deontology, etc. In that case, I would say that even if I am convinced that my philosophical position is correct and that yours is therefore wrong, I should not normally say you are ignorant. Big philosophical positions are controversial, they are things over which highly intelligent and thoughtful people can and do differ, so accusing your opponent of ignorance is probably out of place.

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