Studies of expertise and experience: Demarcating and defending the role of science in democracy

Collins, Harry ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2909-9035 and Evans, Robert ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7034-5122 2024. Studies of expertise and experience: Demarcating and defending the role of science in democracy. Pritchard, Duncan, Farina, Mirko and Lavazza, Andrea, eds. Expertise: Philosophical Perspectives, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 147-168. (10.1093/oso/9780198877301.003.0009)

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Studies of expertise and experience (SEE) combines sociology and philosophy to understand expertise as a collective achievement that individuals acquire via socialisation. We set out the fundamental tenets of SEE and explore its implications for the use of scientific expertise in contemporary societies. We argue that the social constructivists accounts of science developed in science and technology studies (STS) provide the best descriptions of scientific practice but that their over-interpretation risks dissolving the boundary between expert and non-expert, effectively supporting populist dystopias in which opinions and the power of vested interests displace science. Recent events have made these problems as real and salient as the concerns about technocracy that have animated the STS literature for many decades. In response, we argue that science is, and must remain, distinguishable from politics and that it is scientific values that justify the use and central importance of scientific expertise.

Item Type:	Book Section
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISBN:	9780198877301
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	1 August 2024
Last Modified:	13 Aug 2024 13:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/171105

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item