Expertise and expert knowledge in social and procedural entanglement

Abstract

The paper analyzes, on the basis of Ryle’s concepts of knowledge that and knowledge how, both objectified (verbalized, justified and verified) forms of expert knowledge and the performative (procedural, interactional) nature of expertise. Both theoretical and practical aspects of the identified categories are studied from historical and social (institutional) perspectives as phenomena characteristic of post-modern information society. In virtue of the selected social examples an epistemological model of performative expert knowledge and expertise is constructed in which crucial elements are distinguished: experts’ cognitive attitudes and dispositions, intellectual skills, intuition and mistakes as well as types of interactional versus contributory expertise. Also considered are the epistemological consequences derived from the research concerning expertise in psychiatric treatment where both expert knowledge and expertise fall into line with institutional requirements (medical or juridical) as well as procedures (correspondence with facts and/or other procedures).