"It should be clear by now that there are people who can, in fact, be reasonably considered experts; that it is rational to rely, within limits, on expert opinion; and that it is possible, by exercising relatively simple criteria, to gain insight into whether a particular expert is reliable or not. It is also true that experts, of course, do make mistakes, and that even the agreement of a large majority of experts in a field does not guarantee that they got it right. That’s the nature of scientific truth, as we have seen throughout this book: it is tentative, because it is the result of a human endeavor that is limited both by the type and amount of available evidence and by humans’ finite mental powers and emotional reactions. But the examples above show how you can, with a little bit of practice, tell science from bunk!"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Nonsense on Stilts (2010), Ch. 12 : Who's Your Expert?
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Massimo_Pigliucci
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Massimo Pigliucci
2 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Massimo Pigliucci →
Related Quotes
"Once data are ruled out as arbiters among theories, those theories become pointless, just another clever intellectual…"
"[About the Telekom Serbia case] I confess: I am the puppet master behind this whole affair. I am turning myself in fo…"
"(About the deaths of Ilaria Alpi and Miran Hrovatin) They were on vacation in Somalia; they were not conducting any i…"
"(About the case of Eluana Englaro) A genuine murder has taken place. [Even] Parliament itself has been taken for a ri…"
"I worked for years for Berlusconi; I know his strategies. When I was his legal advisor and he asked me to draft laws …"
"There are many things I did during that period that I would never do again. I have no qualms about saying that I went…"
"(Regarding the secret dossier on Ilaria Alpi) I have absolutely no recollection of having given that document to the …"
"I never held any major positions in the PSI, but I had the honor of being a friend of Craxi."
"I’ll miss politics, but it’s no tragedy. I’m going back to my studies, to medieval philosophy."
"I will miss certain moments. I, who had been in the PSI until the public prosecutor’s office dissolved it in ’92, rem…"