Summary of Thomas M. Nichols's The Death of Expertise

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 The public space is increasingly dominated by a loose assortment of poorly informed people, many of them autodidacts who are disdainful of formal education and dismissive of experience. They are the explainers who are more than happy to enlighten the rest of us about everything from the history of imperialism to the dangers of vaccines.

#2 We cannot function without acknowledging the limits of our knowledge and trusting in the expertise of others. We sometimes resist this conclusion because it undermines our sense of independence and autonomy.

#3 There is always going to be some conflict between people who know things and people who don’t, and this is especially true in a democracy where people are allowed to express their opinions.

#4 The American attachment to intellectual self-reliance, which was described by Tocqueville, survived for nearly a century before being undermined by technology, universal secondary education, the proliferation of specialized expertise, and the emergence of the United States as a global power in the mid-twentieth century.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Feb 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669352402

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Book preview

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