Blogs van Jan Bransen

• The accessibility of expertise 06/05/2017

  There is something disquieting about the very idea of ‘expertise’, something that should concern all of us. When you are an expert you have good and often decisive reasons for certain actions, but the more such reasons are grounded in your expertise the less you may be capable of explaining them fully to laypeople. That … Continue reading “The accessibility of expertise”

• Evidence, expertise, and common sense 05/05/2017

  Evidence is an often ill-understood notion which sounds technical and suggests not merely the epistemic authority of a scientist or research team, but something much stronger and more robust. If you have evidence you have the support of reality itself. But compare this for a moment with one of the little everyday things of life, … Continue reading “Evidence, expertise, and common sense”

• Common sense and scientific method 04/05/2017

  The scientific method is a wonderful accomplishment. It is in certain areas the best elaboration of the Enlightenment’s call to leave superstition and arbitrariness behind and to begin to think for ourselves. I explore in the book how science is continuous with common sense and how it could be an improvement or elevation of common … Continue reading “Common sense and scientific method”

• We may have passed the optimum of specialisation 03/05/2017

  There are lots of cases of expertise with a human face. Care robots may be one, perhaps, as is the internet, smartphones, endoscopic surgery, and so on. My book is not an attempt to blame, decry or reject expertise. But I see a problem in hyperspecialisation, in narrow forms of expertise, that promises us great … Continue reading “We may have passed the optimum of specialisation”

• The investigative attitude 02/05/2017

  The basic idea of the investigative attitude is simply that of being aware of the fact that a situation is puzzling but that you don’t know which is the best question to ask about it. You are puzzled, but you do not know how exactly to articulate your puzzlement. I contrast this kind of puzzlement … Continue reading “The investigative attitude”