Is there any such thing as ethical expertise?

University of Brighton Philosophy Society

Is there any such thing as ethical expertise? Gideon Calder - University of Wales, Newport.

'Expertise', it seems, carries ever more cultural capital - and weighs especially heavily in certain professional settings. We're expected to want our heart surgeon to be an expert, and all things considered, this seems a forgivable kind of hope to have. But should we 'listen to the experts' when it comes to ethics? Who might such people be? And what exactly might their expertise consist in, these people who are exceptionally adept at distinguishing right from wrong? What exactly do they know, and what are they good at? This paper considers two different 'takes' on these questions. One - borrowing loosely from Hubert Dreyfus - is that the idea of ethical expertise can make sense, but only if we reconsider what counts as expertise. The other - borrowing loosely from Michael Luntley -- is that 'expertise' is simply a misnomer for what makes good ethical decision-making good. I will argue that both positions have a point, and that this tells us illuminating things not just about the place of ethics in professional life, but about the manipulative purposes to which the notion of 'expertise' is put more generally.