How important are the opinions of experts in the search for knowledge?

The first 200 words of this essay...

"Josip Broz - Tito" High School

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

Skopje, Macedonia

TOK ESSAY

How important are the opinions of experts in the search for knowledge?

Candidate name: Number of words:

Blagoja Daniel Nikolovski 1440

Candidate number:

D000897-011

Today we live in a world where people trust and rely on opinions of experts. Wherever we turn, governments, courts of justice, media, text books, business companies and others, all focus on the opinion of experts. Experts are considered authorities in their specific areas of knowledge and they are distinguished as such by their doctoral degree, or important scientific achievements which they have made in their particular field. Nevertheless, how far are expert opinions trustworthy? Can they sometimes err in their claims? In our search for knowledge, the opinions of experts are important, to the extent they are based more on evidence, and less on assumptions and hypotheses.

First of all, experts are human beings like all of us and they are guided in their search for truth not only by objective research, but also by emotion i.e. their biases, prejudices, cherished theories etc. There are numerous examples of