Abstract

The introduction to this special issue briefly looks at the history of socio-epistemological reflection on epistemic authority and expert testimony, and identifies four major sets of questions that have been at the center of this discussion: questions about the definition of epistemic authorities and experts, their identification, modes of deference to them, and the transfer of epistemic goods from them. It then outlines some of the ways in which the contributions to this special issue address these questions, moving beyond the answers that have traditionally been given to them, and raising entirely new questions.