Any situations where willfull ignorance is the superior moral choice?

[Birdmanman]

I was recently thinking about a competition some friends and I would be participating in. I then realized I had no idea what the prize for the competition was. I then intentionally chose not to find out about what the prize was because I knew that, if I became focused on the prize, I might have more incentive to win the competition and ‘be in the game’ than to have fun with my friends and the other competitors.

But it seems that, given my knowledge of my own competitiveness, intentionally choosing to remain ignorant of a fact was a (slightly) morally better option than choosing to learn the fact.

Likewise, if one knows that they have an inclination to embezzle money (or whatever), and there is a computer password at their job which gives them access to financial accounts for them to embezzle, they may realize that it is a morally superior option, and assists them in avoiding the occasion of sin, if they choose to remain ignorant of the password.

But it seems also that the God-given purpose of our intellects is to learn and know truth, and that to choose ignorance of the truth, in whatever matter (from passwords to math equations), goes contrary to that God-given purpose.** Is it then better for the embezzler to learn that password, and risk a near-occasion of sin, because to do otherwise would be to choose ignorance over truth, at least in that matter?**

[If someone would argue that the embezzler has better, and more morally good, truths to learn about (like, how to find another job that wouldn’t involve embezzlement, or learning Church History), we will pretend, for the sake of the argument, that at that given time there are no other facts whatsoever for the embezzler to learn about, except facts about the password that might lead him to embezzle.]

 

[Birdmanman]

The Catechism, as usual, answers my question. For the embezzler to permit himself to learn the truth of what that financial password is would be disrespectful of the truth, intending (at least at the moment of embezzlement) to subject the truth to the dominion of his desires, rather than to have his desires be themselves subjected to the truth.

CCC 2489 Charity and respect for the truth should dictate the response to every request for information or communication. The good and safety of others, respect for privacy, and the common good are sufficient reasons for being silent about what ought not be known or for making use of a discreet language. The duty to avoid scandal often commands strict discretion. No one is bound to reveal the truth to someone who does not have the right to know it.283

It also seems that actions can be lies too, and that all sins in this way are in somehow dishonest and contrary to truth, for (1) sins represent the truth of our relationship with God in a false way (by acting as if it were ‘better’ for us not to obey him, or as Brideshead Revisited states, trying to set up “a rival good to God’s”) (2) sins act contrary to our human nature, that is, we falsely portray ourselves as inhuman to ourselves and others by sinning, even when we are in fact human.

 

[Regina_Love]

A password is not a truth. It is simply a fact.