Why Trust Academia? A Reflection on the Credibility of Specialists

Abstract

Using examples from popular culture and history, the author speculates on the reasons and possible solutions to the crisis of trust in academia, especially along the line dividing specialists from non-specialists. The article begins with two case studies (of Yuval Noah Harari and Gustave Le Bon) that highlight the problem of conscious or otherwise data manipulation and the intention behind it. In the second part of the article, a broader approach is adopted to the matters of ethics of research and especially the crucial issue of the awareness (or lack thereof) of self-limitations and biases of which perhaps no academic is free. The article ends with the assertion that rather than individual researchers, we should trust in the academic process of the never-ending peer review.