Lecture, Barnard's Inn Hall, Thursday, 30 May 2024 - 18:00

Experts in politics: Lessons from Socrates and Aristotle

a marble statue of socrates

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Socrates sought to test the expertise of everyone around him: the bombastic know-it-alls, the bashful youths, the confident generals, those (including the enslaved) with unsuspected mathematical competence, the workaday artisans. Aristotle later explored the ways in which expert claims can be made credible to popular judgement.

This lecture considers the role of experts in contributing to public debate in a democracy, bringing Aristotle's work on rhetoric to bear on norms for expert communication and public debate.

Professor Melissa Lane

Professor Melissa Lane

Professor of Rhetoric

Melissa Lane is the Class of 1943 Professor of Politics, Princeton University and is also Associated Faculty in the Department of Classics and Department of...

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