A Question of Knowledge by Richenda Power

Author:Richenda Power [Power, Richenda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Sociology, General
ISBN: 9781317883753
Google: _f3JAwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-06-11T04:59:44+00:00

This proposal substitutes one problem for another: if our interest is in what knowledge is, we still need to articulate what factors enable us to distinguish an ‘expert consultant’, and what differentiates such a person from an ‘infallible authority’. Similarly, to oppose ‘acquisition of skill’ to ‘formal instruction’, leaves the problem of explaining the basis of that distinction. Collins drew out the implications of such a distinction for the ways in which scientific data may be viewed with an example of scientific knowledge in use in the British legal system:

the contradiction between the accepted view of scientific data, and Pereira’s (Home Office Forensic Science Laboratory head) practical experience of what can be done by the determined critic…. If they are data, they should speak with the same voice to any member of the scientific community whether they are working for the defence or the prosecution. If they are the crystallised opinions of experts, then those opinions might crystallise differently for defence and prosecution. In that case disagreement over the soundness and quality of data should be expected; it should be the norm that the ‘same’ materials can be turned into different end products. (Collins 1985:162)

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