Experts and Consensus in Social Science

by Carlo Maria Martini (Editor), Marcel Boumans (Editor)

This book brings together the research of philosophers, sociologists, and social scientists. It examines those areas of scientific practice where reliance on the subjective judgment of experts and practitioners is the main source of useful knowledge to address and possibly, bring solutions to social problems. A common phenomenon in applications of science is that objective evidence does not point to a single answer or solution, to a problem. Reliance on subjective judgment, then, becomes necessary, despite the known fact that hunches, even those of putative experts, often provide information that is not very accurate, and that experts are prone to fallacies and biases. The book looks at how experts reach consensus in the social sciences, and which experts are relevant to which problems. It aims to answer many questions, the main one Can we start building a normative theory of expertise on the basis of the evidence that social scientists, sociologists and philosophers have uncovered?

318 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2014

About the author

Cardinal Martini was an exegetical and theological scholar who has written more than 40 books, and was reputed to speak 11 languages.