Difference Between Ignorance and Stupidity
These two terms are very confusing and are different from one another. The key difference between them is that ignorance means that awareness about a certain topic is required and stupidity means that a person is unable to understand something due to lack of intelligence.
As for example a person who has never seen a computer will be ignorant of its operation due to his lack of knowledge. However a stupid person in spite of his knowledge about computers may not be able to handle it.
According to the example the ignorant person is taught how to operate a computer, he will be able to operate a computer, learn to work with it, play games in it. However a stupid man will never be able to operate it. An ignorant person has very little knowledge about a particular issue, only knowledge and exposure eliminates his/her ignorance. However a stupid man, who is also by the way an ignorant person, will remain a stupid person and be unable to learn the issue as his/her stupidity will prevent that person to get the required knowledge.
Ignorance comes due to situations and circumstances in life unlike stupidity which is there due to attitude problem and mental deficit that keeps a person from learning from an environment. As for example, if a person coming from the lesser privileged segment of the society, gets a scope of studying in the best educational institutes of the country, he may end up being an excellent scholar and a knowledgeable person, however the son of a rich businessman may have all the comforts in life but still engage in activities like smoking, drugs etc.
These two qualities are not typical for any set of people. While stupidity is a matter of awareness, ignorance is also triggered by lack of exposure and knowledge. It is a known fact that people residing in the tropics wear light and cool clothing and people who live in cold areas wear warm and heavy clothes. If such people visit each other’s places and find the style of the local people stupid, then it is nothing but ignorance.
Summary
- While stupidity means lack of capacity of understanding, ignorance means lack of knowledge.
- Knowledge can eliminate ignorance; however stupidity cannot be eliminated by knowledge.
- Circumstances in life leads to ignorance, however stupidity is caused by an attitude problem of mental deficit of the person.