How is it possible that understanding and knowledge are now viewed with suspicion? Why, with questions such as immigration, does data matter less than the fact that we feel we are being invaded? Is knowledge still the key to resolving conflict and social tension? What can experts do at their most unpopular moment?
At LUISS, Roberto Saviano met with Tom Nichols, Professor at Harvard and author of The Death of Expertise, published in Italian by LUISS University Press, 2018).
According to Saviano, Nichols' is "a book that takes on the topic of all topics. It aims to speak to those who doubt experts. It is a poetic elegy to those who still believe in research, who believe that knowledge is still the only instrument to resolve conflicts."
Responding to the question of how to move past the dominion of ignorance and hatred of experts, Nichols says: "My advice to experts is to resist, as difficult as it may be when the wind of ignorance and populism rages. Those who have knowledge have a responsibility, I believe the revolt of experts has begun."