ABSTRACT
At the start of the metoo protests, many men professed genuine surprise about the prevalence of sexual harassment, whilst many women could not figure out how men could have been so ignorant. Black people have long observed that a similar apparent commitment to ignorance about race is widespread among whites. This chapter offers a vice-epistemological account of the ignorance of those who are invested in not knowing, with a special focus on white ignorance, understood as a kind of racial insensitivity. It shows that some forms of ignorance are the product of epistemic vices, conceived as sensibilities. The chapter explains the mutually re-enforcing connection that exists between arrogance, ignorance, and privilege. Members of privileged groups instead can more easily avoid facing such potential evidence. Their privilege affords them a good education and other opportunities to improve their abilities.
