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From the use of expert testimony in the courtroom to the advice we rely on to solve key economic, political, and social problems, expertise is an essential part of our decision-making process. However, the extent to which experts can be trusted is a subject of persistent and contentious debate.
The Philosophy of Expertise is the first collection to explore the fundamental philosophical issues surrounding these authorities and their expert knowledge. Part 1 considers the problems surrounding the issue of trust and deference; part 2 launches a phenomenological clarification of expertise that pinpoints the universal structures embodied in cognition and affect; and part 3 examines the consequences of the social and technical externalization of expertise.
Contributors including Edward Said, Alvin Goldman, Peter Singer, Hubert Dreyfus, Julia Annas, Harry Collins, and Don Ihde draw on a number of intellectual approaches to explore the justification of expert authority, the potentially dangerous role of expertise in a liberal democratic society, how laypeople can critique experts, and the social and ideological character of expert advice. The contributors also discuss the reasoning process of judges and juries, the ancient Greek view of moral conduct, and the incorporation of experts into governmental bureaucracy.
By honestly tackling the legitimacy and consistency of various positions, this volume sheds much-needed light on the theoretical dimensions of a controversial and pervasive practice.
Contributors: Alvin I. Goldman, Don Ihde, Edward Said, Evan Selinger and John Mix, Evan Selinger and Robert P. Crease, H. M. Collins and Robert Evans, Hélène Mialet, Hubert Dreyfus, John Hardwig, Julia Annas, Paul Feyerabend, Peter Singer, Scott Brewer, Steve Fuller, Steven Turner
Robert P. Crease is a professor of philosophy at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, and has written extensively on issues at the intersection of science and society.
Evan Selinger is assistant professor of philosophy at the Rochester Institute of Technology and is the editor of Chasing Techno-Science: Matrix for Materiality and coeditor of Expanding Phenomenology: A Critical Companion to Ihde.
Introduction, by Evan Selinger and Robert P. Crease
Part I: Trusting Experts
Introduction
1. Experts: Which Ones Should You Trust?, by Alvin I. Goldman
2. The Third Wave of Science Studies: Studies of Expertise and Experience, by H. M. Collins and Robert Evans
3. Scientific Expert Testimony and Intellectual Due Process, by Scott Brewer
4. What Is the Problem with Experts?, by Steven Turner
5. Moral Experts, by Peter Singer
Part 2: Expertise and Practical Knowledge
Introduction
6. How Far Is Distance Learning from Education?, by Hubert Dreyfus
7. Dreyfus on Expertise: The Limits of Phenomenological Analysis, by Evan Selinger and Robert P. Crease
8. Do Angels Have Bodies? Two Stories About Subjectivity in Science: The Cases of William X and Mr. H, by Hélène Mialet
9. Moral Knowledge as Practical Knowledge, by Julia Annas
10. On Interactional Expertise: Pragmatic and Ontological Considerations, by Evan Selinger and John Mix
Part 3: Contesting Expertise
Introduction
11. Epistemic Dependence, by John Hardwig
12. The Constitutively Social Character of Expertise, by Steve Fuller
13. How to Defend Society Against Science, by Paul Feyerabend
14. Opponents, Audiences, Constituencies, and Community, by Edward Said
15. Why Not Science Critics?, by Don Ihde
List of Contributors
Acknowledgments
Index