Neurobiology, philosophy, sociology, science, psychology and every other established field of knowledge is the result of social privilege. This is quite hard to deny when the material requirements (and this includes psychological/neurobiological requirements) that give one access to these domains must be in place in order to obtain and retain the information. For example, it is unlikely that a child growing up in the tragedy and violence of Syria, is going to have advanced knowledge in philosophy or science, let alone much awareness of itself or the world. Those who have this knowledge, especially in advanced forms, have it only because they had favorable social conditions that allowed them to access and obtain such knowledge. (They have been the beneficiaries of society). What explains the procurement of knowledge is not an effort on the part of the will, but the conditions of the culture and class into which one is born. There is no way around this because the argument is based on the concrete facts of material existence, the very objects and conditions required for high level function to even exist.
But this tells us something. What does it mean that knowledge is really a product of cultural access and privilege? One thing it means is that humans are not consciously promoting an advanced species because they do not understand that individual quality is the result of social quality, most specifically, universal access to a comprehensive education.
We as philosophers must all move in this direction if we are really serious about thinking, serious about intelligence, because this is precisely where the conclusion of intelligence leads us. If one is a good thinker they assume it to be a trait that is worth emulating, so how do we impart quality of thought to the species? How do we self-consciously create a society of thinkers? The answer is by intelligently creating and directing social conditions that favor the developmental quality of individuals.
The quality of humans is undeniably bound up in their psychological process of development. Thanks to recent work in the field of psychology, specifically Attachment Theory, we now understand how to produce healthy humans, how to avoid individual pathology, which gives us the power (at least in degree) to negate social pathology. Religion has existed for thousands of years and it never figured out, and does not know how, to produce healthy humans. Thanks to methods in science, coupled with the genius of thought, humans have now figured out how to intelligently proceed toward themselves.
Knowing that knowledge is a privileged enterprise empowers us to create a more intelligent species. It is a foolish species that does not seek to extend this vital privilege to every member, the result is a loss of social quality which negatively impacts the whole of the species. To seek to privilege every member with education should be the goal and focus of our species. In an advanced species this would be implicit to the social structure as an attribute of the species' intelligence. But we can neither call man intelligent or advanced, as an animal he is tragically impulsive and short-sighted.
Ignorance is the unnecessary result of class systems and class oppression. This is why it cannot be remedied at the individual level. Nothing less than a comprehensive and qualitative social system of education is required.
-
-
-
