Chapter 14. The Power and Limits of Professional Knowledge (And of the Disciplines that Underlie Them)

Professional Fallibility and the Glut of Information

The Ideal of Professional Knowledge

Who Should We Believe?

True and False Loyalty to a Profession

The Gap Between Fact and Ideal

Assessing A Profession or a Professional Conclusion: Matters of Fact, Matters of Opinion, Matters of Judgment

The Ideal Compared to the Real

Professions Based on the Ideal of Mathematics and Abstract Quantification

The Pain and Suffering of Those Who Fail

Loss of Self-Esteem and Opportunity to Receive Higher Education

Low Level of Math Competency of Those Who Pass School Examinations

The Ideal of Science: Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy, Geology, and Biology

The Ideal of Social Science: History, Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, and Psychology

History as an Ideal

Sociology as an Ideal

Anthropology as an Ideal

Economics as an Ideal

The Social Sciences as Taught and Practiced

The Ideal of the Arts and Humanities: Music, Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Dance, Literature, and Philosophy

The Promise of the Fine Arts and Literature

The Reality of Instruction in the Fine Arts and Literature

The Promise of Philosophy

The Reality of Philosophy

Conclusion