Expertise-in-Action

Abstract

Abstract In this essay, we propose the importance of, and need for what we call “expertise in action,” which obligates: (1) explicit and specific epistemic and responsibilist expertise in informing public decisions, and (2) relative transparency about the extent, role, and contribution of any such expertise and guidance. Operating within a structural and functional model of ethics, we assert that specific virtues should be considered as valuable to the exercise of this new kind of expertise. We define and discuss these virtues—including benevolence, fidelity to trust, veracity, intellectual humility, pathos, fortitude, and practical wisdom; and provide a general framework for the education and training of experts-in-action.