Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The study of culturally-induced ignorance or doubt, particularly the publication of inaccurate or misleading scientific data.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Coined by Robert N. Proctor, deriving from the Neoclassical Greek word ἄγνωσις (agnōsis, "not knowing"), cf. ἄγνωτος (agnōtos), and -λογία (-logia).

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Examples

  • Proctor has developed a new word "agnotology" which he defines as "the study of culturally constructed ignorance."

    Dakota Today 2009

  • Proctor has developed a new word "agnotology" which he defines as "the study of culturally constructed ignorance."

    Dakota Today 2009

  • Dr. Proctor specializes in the history of 20th - and 21st-century scientific controversies, including the history of tobacco and "agnotology,", the study of the cultural production of ignorance and doubt

    Center for Media and Democracy - Publishers of PR Watch 2009

  • To understand it we must turn to agnotology, the study of culturally induced ignorance or doubt.

    David Roberts: What We Have and Haven't Learned From 'Climategate' David Roberts 2011

  • The rhetoric of those pushing nonsense on the public in an attempt to confuse rather than illuminate — the phrase is “agnotology” – only serves to aid the lobbyists working on behalf of the Banks and Investment houses to maintain the status quo. ..

    Mr. Ritholtz replies: “They are cogent arguments …” 2009

  • The rhetoric of those pushing nonsense on the public in an attempt to confuse rather than illuminate — the phrase is “agnotology” – only serves to aid the lobbyists working on behalf of the Banks and Investment houses to maintain the status quo.

    Blusterin’ Barry 2009

  • He has developed a word inspired by this trend: agnotology .

    Clive Thompson on How More Info Leads to Less Knowledge 2009

  • The rhetoric of those pushing nonsense on the public in an attempt to confuse rather than illuminate — the phrase is “agnotology” – only serves to aid the lobbyists working on behalf of the Banks and Investment houses to maintain the status quo.

    You can always count on Emily Bazelon… 2009

  • He has developed a word inspired by this trend: agnotology.

    Wired Top Stories 2009

  • The rhetoric of those pushing nonsense on the public in an attempt to confuse rather than illuminate — the phrase is “agnotology” – only serves to aid the lobbyists working on behalf of the Banks and Investment houses to maintain the status quo.

    VDARE.com: Blog Articles » Print » Blusterin’ Barry 2009

  • In 1995, Robert Proctor and Iain Boal coined the term “agnotology” to describe the strategic and purposeful production of ignorance.

    Agnotology and Epistemological Fragmentation – Data & Society: Points danah boyd 2021

Comments

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  • Erin McKean's WOTD, January 30, 2009, from her Twitter feed:

    "the study of culturally constructed ignorance." Robert Proctor, from WIRED Feb 09

    January 31, 2009

  • "|Robert| Proctor had found that the cigarette industry did not want consumers to know the harms of its product, and it spent billions obscuring the facts of the health effects of smoking. This search led him to create a word for the study of deliberate propagation of ignorance: agnotology.

    It comes from agnosis, the neoclassical Greek word for ignorance or ‘not knowing’, and ontology, the branch of metaphysics which deals with the nature of being. Agnotology is the study of wilful acts to spread confusion and deceit, usually to sell a product or win favour."

    -- http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160105-the-man-who-studies-the-spread-of-ignorance

    December 29, 2017