# Willful ignorance *Deliberate avoidance of relevant information, a concept in psychology, philosophy and law* In psychology and philosophy, willful ignorance means choosing not to know. It is the intentional avoidance of information or knowledge relevant to a matter, often because the truth would be unwelcome or would push a person toward actions they would prefer not to take.[^1] In legal usage, the term describes a person who tries to escape civil or criminal liability for a wrongful act by deliberately staying unaware of the facts that would make them liable or implicated.[^2] Courts in the United States and in Brazil have applied the doctrine.[^2] The phrase is also used of people who deliberately look away from an ethical problem that those using the phrase consider important. They may do so because the problem is too distressing to let it occupy their thoughts, or because addressing it would demand substantial effort.[^3] ## Terminology Other names for the concept include [[Willful blindness]], contrived ignorance, conscious avoidance, intentional ignorance and Nelsonian knowledge.[^4] A jury instruction on willful blindness is at times referred to as the "ostrich instruction".[^4] ## Religious and mythological perspectives A range of religious and mythological traditions treat ignorance, delusion or the absence of saving knowledge as a cause of wrongdoing or suffering.[^5] Some of them separate ignorance that carries no blame from ignorance that does. Blameworthy ignorance is either ignorance a person could have cured through reasonable diligence or ignorance the person deliberately cultivated.[^5] Scholarship on Greek mythology and literature treats Ate (Ἄτη) as a personification of "delusion" that draws agents into error and ruin.[^6] Zoroastrian belief frames moral dualism as an opposition of truth and falsehood (Asha–Druj), presented as opposed principles between which a decisive choice must be made. In that dualistic doctrine, Angra Mainyu (Ahriman) is the "evil, destructive spirit".[^6] Manichaeism was a dualistic movement founded by Mani, who was known as the "Apostle of Light". It is often characterized through opposed realms expressed in terms of knowledge: "the nature of light is wisdom" and "the nature of darkness is ignorance".[^7] Taoist thought separates the "original ignorance" ascribed to the child from the cultivated "no-knowledge" of the sage. It urges the aspirant to set aside knowledge and distinctions in order to attain the Tao.[^7] Catholic moral theology uses the term "vincible ignorance" for ignorance that a person could dispel by reasonable diligence in the circumstances at hand.[^8] Its counterpart, "invincible ignorance", is ignorance the person cannot remove at all, or could remove only through supererogatory effort, meaning effort beyond ordinary duty.[^8] Under this distinction, invincible ignorance removes culpability. Vincible ignorance at most lessens culpability and may even increase it.[^8] ## Legal precedents ### United States In *United States v. Jewell*, the court treated proof of willful ignorance as satisfying the knowledge requirement for criminal possession and importation of drugs.[^9] The United States has a common-law legal system. In a number of its cases, people transporting packages of illegal drugs have argued that they never asked, or were never told, what the packages held, and so lacked the intent needed to break the law.[^9] Those defenses have not succeeded. Courts have found that the defendant should have known the contents and acted with criminal recklessness by not finding out.[^9] In *In re Aimster Copyright Litigation*, the defendants said their file-swapping technology was built so that they had no means of monitoring the content of the files users exchanged. They argued that, being unable to monitor users, they could not be contributing to the users' copyright infringement.[^10] The court held that this amounted to willful blindness on the defendant's part and was no defense to a claim of contributory infringement.[^10] ### Brazil Brazil has a civil-law system. Even so, its courts have followed Spanish precedent and adopted the willful blindness doctrine, which developed in common-law systems.[^11] The theory first appeared in Brazilian criminal law in the judgment in the "Central Bank Heist" case (the Banco Central burglary at Fortaleza), from 2005, where it was used to support convictions for money laundering.[^11] Courts later applied it in the "Mensalão Case" (the Mensalão scandal), which was also a money-laundering case.[^11] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willful ignorance* (revision 1378623258, retrieved 26 October 2026), lead — definition in psychology and philosophy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willful_ignorance [^2]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willful ignorance* (revision 1378623258, retrieved 26 October 2026), lead and section "Legal precedents" — legal definition; application in U.S. and Brazilian courts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willful_ignorance [^3]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willful ignorance* (revision 1378623258, retrieved 26 October 2026), lead — usage for turning away from ethical problems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willful_ignorance [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willful ignorance* (revision 1378623258, retrieved 26 October 2026), section "Terminology" — synonyms and the "ostrich instruction". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willful_ignorance [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willful ignorance* (revision 1378623258, retrieved 26 October 2026), section "Religious and mythological perspectives" — general distinction between culpable and non-culpable ignorance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willful_ignorance [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willful ignorance* (revision 1378623258, retrieved 26 October 2026), section "Religious and mythological perspectives" — Ate; Zoroastrian Asha–Druj and Angra Mainyu. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willful_ignorance [^7]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willful ignorance* (revision 1378623258, retrieved 26 October 2026), section "Religious and mythological perspectives" — Manichaeism and Taoist thought. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willful_ignorance [^8]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willful ignorance* (revision 1378623258, retrieved 26 October 2026), section "Religious and mythological perspectives" — Catholic vincible and invincible ignorance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willful_ignorance [^9]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willful ignorance* (revision 1378623258, retrieved 26 October 2026), section "Legal precedents: United States" — *United States v. Jewell* and drug-courier cases, as summarized there; no primary opinion text is in the pack. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willful_ignorance [^10]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willful ignorance* (revision 1378623258, retrieved 26 October 2026), section "Legal precedents: United States" — *In re Aimster Copyright Litigation*, as summarized there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willful_ignorance [^11]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willful ignorance* (revision 1378623258, retrieved 26 October 2026), section "Legal precedents: Brazil" — adoption in Brazil, the Central Bank Heist case and the Mensalão Case. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willful_ignorance