Manyul Im: "Ignorant and Loving It!"

Am I living a meaningful life?

How do I know if I’m living a meaningful life?

How can ignorance be a tool for learning?

Attendees at a recent Necessary Voices lecture found themselves facing these and other fascinating questions.  The speaker was Dr. Manyul Im, philosophy professor, college administrator, and passionate advocate of the Socratic mandate to “Know thyself!”

Dr. Im’s talk was titled “Ignorant and Loving It – Embracing Ignorance: The Importance of Knowing that You Don’t Know.”  He began by assuring his audience that he was not espousing the virtue of “blissful ignorance,” but that he wanted to challenge his audience to think about ignorance as a starting point.  Acknowledging our own ignorance is the first step, Dr. Im argued, toward wonder, which is the attitude at the root of philosophical inquiry.  From wonder, Dr. Im proposed, we move toward amazement, then curiosity, then interest, finally arriving not at knowledge or certainty, but at perplexity.  Once we have reached perplexity, we can work backward through the stages to arrive at a more informed kind of wonder, and by that time, we are deeply engaged in a process of personal discovery. 

While Dr. Im’s focus was on philosophical inquiry, he made connections to other kinds of activities such as gardening, cooking, learning math, and even karaoke singing.  “A song is so much better,” Im said, “when you’re singing it yourself.”  Like all meaningful activity, education is not something that you simply acquire passively; it is a process of personal engagement, questioning, and growth.   

Dr. Im’s audience was composed mostly of students in the University of Bridgeport’s first-year Learning Communities.  These Learning Communities are composed of students who take their first-year writing class and their First-Year Seminar classes in cohorted groups.  The Learning Community model provides a space for students to work through the challenges of transitioning to college-level coursework among a supportive and collegial network of fellow students.  Dr. Im’s intention was to inspire these students to become engaged learners who search for meaning rather than just chase after good grades, who rise to difficult intellectual challenges rather than outsourcing cognitive labor to chatbots, and who are not afraid to admit when they don’t have answers.

When one student asked Dr. Im about how to cultivate a sense of wonder, Manyul responded that the best journeys of discovery begin with conversations, questions, and an exchange of perspectives.  The opportunity to have this thought-provoking conversation with Dr. Im exemplified the value of this style of inquiry. 

Click on this link to see Dr. Im’s complete talk.        

Da-da-da-ta-da, Im lovin' it!

Necessary Voices is a long-running lecture series at the University of Bridgeport. The series is coordinated by UB's English Department, and its mission is to provide UB students with opportunities to hear from thought-leaders and scholars representing a variety of backgrounds, disciplines, and perspectives.