La tentación de la ignorancia

The book’s title refers to one of the temptations that we suffer or may suffer. The ideas that "I already know that" or "What difference does it make?" or "Don’t philosophise with me"! usually go hand in hand with cognoscitive self-complacency. We think we know or think we know enough, but we never do. This book’s central idea is to help people pose several fundamental questions. Saint Augustine said that we know what "time" is until we are asked about it, something akin to what would happen to some concepts that we normally use: "right", "left", "democracy", "person" and many others. The idea is not to provide an essentialist definition that reveals the "true essence" of what is being defined. In short, La tentación de la ignorancia [The temptation of ignorance] is the temptation of intellectual accommodation, of the absence of critical sense. Yet, as Cervantes said, "I prefer the road to the inn". Good preference. Finally, we should mention that readers are not forced to begin at the beginning. Some chapters will be more difficult that others and the author recommends "leavign them for the end, or reading them partially or leave them for later or skipping them [...] Walk on or keep on walking, but follow the illustrated advice: Dare to think for yourself!"