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> Welles distinguishes stupidity from ignorance; where stupidity means one must know they are acting in their own worst interest in that it must be a choice, no
by acituan 5y ago
> Welles distinguishes stupidity from ignorance; where stupidity means one must know they are acting in their own worst interest in that it must be a choice, not a forced act or accident.
The problem with this definition is taking a very narrow meaning of "knowing" which most of the time means "propositional knowing".
A basketball player knows propositionally that they need to put the ball through the hoop, but they will miss in a likelihood in proportion to their lack of procedural knowledge. This doesn't they are being stupid, they actually didn't fully know how.
To apply it recursively; we might know the definition of stupid but that helps so little to save us out of doing stupid things throughout our lives.