Over the last two years, there has been a lot of talk about expertise: who has it, who doesn’t, who is claiming it but shouldn’t. Amid a global pandemic that has brought tremendous uncertainty and damaged our health, learning, livelihoods, and happiness, ensuring that policymakers base their decisions on the correct expertise seems crucial. And, pandemically speaking, the definition of expert appears to be self-evident: Anthony Fauci, an immunologist who has long served as the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, fits the bill. Former U.S. president Donald Trump, self-proclaimed genius, does not. Yet, we’ve seen frequent accusations, across the media and academic landscapes, of what philosopher Nathan Ballantyne calls “epistemic trespassing”: people without relevant knowledge or credentials opining in public forums on matters they know nothing about.1 Commentators warn that listening to these false experts, particularly when it comes to crucial policy or...
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February 2022
Essay|
February 01 2022
How to Be an Epistemic Trespasser
Shobita Parthasarathy
Shobita Parthasarathy
Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan, 4202 Weill Hall, 735 S. State Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. [email protected].
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Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences (2022) 52 (1): 140–142.
Citation
Shobita Parthasarathy; How to Be an Epistemic Trespasser. Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences 1 February 2022; 52 (1): 140–142. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/hsns.2022.52.1.140
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