Stupidity and Self-Absorption

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1652623233" paraeid="{571fe465-a904-4af9-82d5-7923446f46b0}{65}">Preface 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1380786271" paraeid="{571fe465-a904-4af9-82d5-7923446f46b0}{107}">Introduction 

1. <p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="379123258" paraeid="{571fe465-a904-4af9-82d5-7923446f46b0}{161}">A Short Philosophical Historiography of Stupidity 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="523910471" paraeid="{bec2b9d3-218c-4469-b790-b13ab6bbce19}{242}">1.1 The Philosophical Tradition on Stupidity 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1122602175" paraeid="{1a94a147-06b9-474c-b612-c7e09799a9dc}{26}">1.2 Thick Pejoratives 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1263917005" paraeid="{1a94a147-06b9-474c-b612-c7e09799a9dc}{100}">1.3 Stupidity as an In-Ability 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="690128276" paraeid="{1a94a147-06b9-474c-b612-c7e09799a9dc}{210}">1.4 Stupidity as an Epistemic Vice 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="896125505" paraeid="{d36f6d34-f9d5-41b4-91b8-3d6827fccb11}{81}">1.5 Stupidity as a Moral Failing 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1057780656" paraeid="{d36f6d34-f9d5-41b4-91b8-3d6827fccb11}{203}">1.6 The Unity in Variety and an Aporia 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1057780656" paraeid="{d36f6d34-f9d5-41b4-91b8-3d6827fccb11}{203}">      2. Stupidity as Self-Absorption 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="808612932" paraeid="{936c4894-aef0-412d-b720-68a71b2c104d}{207}">2.1 Reticent to the World 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="752124226" paraeid="{0308755c-31a0-4275-a229-9f08923f8fa7}{86}">2.2 World-Closedness 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1983947404" paraeid="{0308755c-31a0-4275-a229-9f08923f8fa7}{156}">2.3 Attention, Salience, Affordance 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="122345659" paraeid="{cc887815-8c8b-4323-bac5-3637be60800e}{43}">2.4 Resistance to Reality – Affordances for Self-Absorption 
2.5 Cognitive Penetration and Epistemic Perniciousness 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1227226030" paraeid="{505b7de1-644e-4050-beeb-38db460c13f1}{246}">2.6 Putting Things Together

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1227226030" paraeid="{505b7de1-644e-4050-beeb-38db460c13f1}{246}">      3. The Absorbed Self 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="2038174807" paraeid="{1706bb85-16bf-4b82-9cee-c602ebc231eb}{57}">3.1 The Self as Something Inner 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="68754106" paraeid="{1706bb85-16bf-4b82-9cee-c602ebc231eb}{195}">3.2 Positionality of the Self 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1108133558" paraeid="{8973f3bd-f07c-4564-ad0e-423205b97227}{62}">3.3 What is Stupid? Some Examples of Stupidity  

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1654255003" paraeid="{2e315d1a-545c-4099-920a-ce69eb3d18b0}{17}">3.4 What is not Stupid? Some Distinctions

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1654255003" paraeid="{2e315d1a-545c-4099-920a-ce69eb3d18b0}{17}">    4. An Existential Condition 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="779951306" paraeid="{2e315d1a-545c-4099-920a-ce69eb3d18b0}{227}">4.1 Neither Vice, nor Ability, nor Moral Failure 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1581410220" paraeid="{dcbe1dda-2468-43b8-96d1-713ec0e60d65}{30}">4.2 Self Absorption as a Mood 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1551008876" paraeid="{dcbe1dda-2468-43b8-96d1-713ec0e60d65}{160}">4.3 The Varieties of Stupidity Recaptured 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="173909652" paraeid="{805ef2c9-daa2-4919-b900-3d1993a8e9c6}{99}">4.4 Egoism and Altruism, Solipsism and Empathy 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1057956027" paraeid="{ff30b031-e409-4ec6-b8d2-156cf08ff812}{50}">4.5 Responsibility and Partial Willfulness 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1651027442" paraeid="{ff30b031-e409-4ec6-b8d2-156cf08ff812}{224}">4.6 Mundane Evil

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1651027442" paraeid="{ff30b031-e409-4ec6-b8d2-156cf08ff812}{224}">    5. Suprapersonal Self-Absorption 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1610552195" paraeid="{a42a4753-b0b3-4331-9d6a-2138816de250}{53}">5.1 Suprapersonal Selves 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="789608474" paraeid="{a42a4753-b0b3-4331-9d6a-2138816de250}{167}">5.2 Alienation and The Tragedy of the Commons 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="2117363831" paraeid="{52f15798-07e9-4818-b78e-f2388fadc36d}{136}">5.3 The Social Mind from Authoritarianism to Propaganda 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1061120998" paraeid="{9cdeb08b-9d3c-48d4-a232-61bf2bf4d479}{123}">5.4 Capitalism, Solidarity, Stupidity 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1196432090" paraeid="{e7245486-c02f-411c-a970-00dfbeab39a8}{239}">Conclusion: The Inescapability of Self-Absorption 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1638085021" paraeid="{bec2b9d3-218c-4469-b790-b13ab6bbce19}{46}">Bibliography 

<p xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US" paraid="1471470466" paraeid="{bec2b9d3-218c-4469-b790-b13ab6bbce19}{100}">Index. 

Biography

Thomas J. Spiegel is full professor of philosophy at Miyazaki International University, Japan. He has published on social epistemology, social ontology, naturalism, applied ethics, and other topics. He has also co-edited the volumes McDowell and the Hermeneutic Tradition (Routledge, 2024) and Social Ontology and Phenomenology (Routledge, 2025) as well as special issues for Topoi (2023) and International Journal for Philosophical Studies (2025).

“Stupidity is everywhere—and yet incredibly hard to define. Drawing on deep knowledge of both analytic and continental philosophy, Spiegel offers a rich and subtle analysis of this phenomenon and the challenges it poses to all lives.”

Sacha Golob, King’s College London, UK