Invincible ignorance is used in

Catholic moral theology Catholic moral theology is a major category of doctrine in the Catholic Church, equivalent to a religious ethics. Moral theology encompasses Catholic social teaching, Catholic medical ethics, sexual ethics, and various doctrines on individua ...

to refer to the state of persons who are, through no fault of their own, ignorant of the fact that the Christian message is true. It is the opposite of the term

vincible ignorance Vincible ignorance is, in Catholic moral theology, ignorance that a person could remove by applying reasonable diligence in the given set of circumstances. It contrasts with invincible ignorance, which a person is either entirely incapable of re ...

. The first Pope to use the term officially seems to have been Pope Pius IX in the

allocution An allocution, or allocutus, is a formal statement made to the court by the defendant who has been found guilty prior to being sentenced. It is part of the criminal procedure in some jurisdictions using common law. Concept An allocution allo ...

''Singulari Quadam'' (9 December 1854) and the encyclicals ''Singulari Quidem'' (17 March 1856) and ''Quanto Conficiamur Moerore'' (10 August 1863). The term, however, is far older than that.

Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known ...

, for instance, uses it in his ''

Summa Theologica The ''Summa Theologiae'' or ''Summa Theologica'' (), often referred to simply as the ''Summa'', is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a scholastic theologian and Doctor of the Church. It is a compendium of all of the main th ...

'' (written 1265–1274), and discussion of the concept can be found as far back as

Origen Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and theo ...

(3rd century).

Doctrine of invincible ignorance

"Invincible ignorance excuses from all culpability. An action committed in ignorance of the law prohibiting it, or of the facts of the case, is not a voluntary act."George Hayward Joyce, "INVINCIBLE IGNORANCE", in James Hastings, John A. Selbie, and Louis H. Gray (eds.), ''Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics'' (Edinburgh; New York: T. & T. Clark; Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908–1926), p. 403. On the other hand, it is culpable to remain willfully ignorant of matters that one is obligated to know (

). In this case the individual is morally responsible for their ignorance, and for the acts resulting from it. The guilt associated with an offense committed in ignorance is less than it would have been if the act were committed in full knowledge, because in that case the offense is less voluntary.

Protestant view

Protestants diverged from Catholic doctrine in this area during the Reformation.

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

believed that invincible ignorance was only a valid excuse for offenses against human law. In his view, we are ignorant of divine law because of original sin, for which we all bear guilt. John Calvin agreed that ignorance of God's law is always vincible.

Other uses

The theological term "invincible ignorance" should not be confused with the logical term

Invincible ignorance fallacy The invincible ignorance fallacy, also known as argument by pigheadedness, is a deductive fallacy of circularity where the person in question simply refuses to believe the argument, ignoring any evidence given. It is not so much a fallacious ta ...

. When and how the term was taken by logicians to refer to the very different state of persons who willfully refuse to attend to evidence remains unclear, but one of its first uses was in the 1959 book ''Fallacy: The Counterfeit of Argument '' by W. Ward Fearnside and William B. Holther.Fearnside, W. Ward and William B. Holther, ''Fallacy: The Counterfeit of Argument'', 1959. .

Doctrine of invincible ignorance

Protestant view

Other uses

See also

References

Further reading