Expert judgment in climate science: How it is used and how it can be justified.

Majszak, Mason; Jebeile, Julie (2023). Expert judgment in climate science: How it is used and how it can be justified. Studies in history and philosophy of science, 100, pp. 32-38. Elsevier 10.1016/j.shpsa.2023.05.005

Preview

Text 1-s2.0-S0039368123000857-main.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY). Download (411kB) | Preview

Like any science marked by high uncertainty, climate science is characterized by a widespread use of expert judgment. In this paper, we first show that, in climate science, expert judgment is used to overcome uncertainty, thus playing a crucial role in the domain and even at times supplanting models. One is left to wonder to what extent it is legitimate to assign expert judgment such a status as an epistemic superiority in the climate context, especially as the production of expert judgment is particularly opaque. To begin answering this question, we highlight the key components of expert judgment. We then argue that the justification for the status and use of expert judgment depends on the competence and the individual subjective features of the expert producing the judgment since expert judgment involves not only the expert's theoretical knowledge and tacit knowledge, but also their intuition and values. This goes against the objective ideal in science and the criteria from social epistemology which largely attempt to remove subjectivity from expertise.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

22 since deposited on 15 Jun 2023
18 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item