The topic on "Judgemental" brought to mind a word I've pondered over from time to time:
What is an expert?
Is the term definable in any meaningful way? I've worked/associated with experts over the years and what they laid out on the table was some knowledge, credentials for that knowledge,varying degrees of
experience. Rarely,rarely did they imbue a sense of wisdom. Expert gets confused with authority a lot of the time,as if the words are interchangeable. An authority doesn't necessarily need knowledge, since that person has the cultural approval to dictate.In our surface thinking culture we often assume the expert is the one "in the know" regarding a particular subject. A consultant is an expert with a disclaimer. Consultants recognise the importance of having an "out" just by chance their wrong. And there can be some small semblance of wisdom in that.
I've been called an expert and my internal response has been: oh really? Usually those projecting the label are looking for an answer to a situation/ problem, so they can claim it as
THE answer. It's also a way of sluffing of responsible (in other words, protecting their ass). When I told my manager I was leaving the system he confided in me with: "Isn't it funny after working your way up,or defaulting into, a position, people just assume you have the answers"? I mentioned I had learned that by my mid twenties, having had the indirect authority to make decisions with multimillion $$ implications.
I've often wondered if the ivy league institutions of higher learning are draws because they offer the most respected credentials for expertise. To graduate from Harvard,MIT,Yale seems to mean something much more than graduating from, say Iowa State University. It ain't wisdom, with any noticeable appreciation, that's for sure.
Reflecting further,culturally we place high value on expertise and little value on wisdom. The talk show always invites the expert on,even announcing them as such: expert,authority,consultant. But even some one who's core striving is toward deepening wisdom, perhaps a poet, writer,engineer, they are never introduced as the"wise engineer". It sounds funny,false. But why? We have no trouble associating wisdom,with whom, we like to now call
indigenous cultures. But the value we place on their contribution to society usually has to do with the struggle to preserve or revitalize their traditions. We don't expect any "expertise" for incorporation in the greater society.
Not being judgemental at all, if one wants to make money, being an expert is a good shtick to have.
"What's an expert? I read somewhere, that the more a man knows, the more he knows, he doesn't know. So I suppose one definition of an expert would be someone who doesn't admit out loud that he knows enough about a subject to know he doesn't really know how much."
Malcolm S. Forbes
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