Jsme dnes všichni vědečtí experti? – Collins Harry (2024)

Harry Collins – emeritus professor at the University of Cardiff, a British classic of the 'new sociology of science' – in this popular science book distinguishes various types of 'expertise' that can be found in contemporary democratic societies. With this distinction, he answers the question of whether we can all legitimately consider ourselves (scientific) experts today: we cannot, at least not all as experts of the same kind. Collins's book can be seen as a defense of science, or rather its particular epistemic competence, at a time when the authority of science is weakened by many social mechanisms, but also by its own scientific failures and shortcomings. This may seem almost paradoxical at first glance, as the sociology of science, or more precisely the sociology of scientific knowledge, is often perceived as an academic discipline that has significantly contributed to the weakening of the authority of science. After all, this is why Collins's analysis of 'expertise' can naturally be guided, among other things, through the interpretation of the principles of the sociology of scientific knowledge and some of its results, in research areas such as the AIDS pandemic, skepticism towards vaccination, the detection of gravitational waves, the study of climate change, etc. For Collins, this is an opportunity to defend the sociology of scientific...