SOCRATES: I was walking through the agora after having had a discussion with an impetuous young man who argued that a good orator could win a debate on any subject, even though he knew nothing about it. This left me rather baffled, so it was a pleasure to fall in with the lawyer Lady Hallett, on whose good sense one could always rely…
SOCRATES: Good morning, Lady Hallett. Whence, whither, and wherefore?
LADY HALLETT: From home, O Socrates, to chair the inquiry into the Covid pandemic.
S: Clearly, then, you are an expert in pandemics.
LH: Far from it, O Socrates.
S: Then where is your expertise?
LH: In carrying out inquiries.
S: Then could you carry out an inquiry into anything?
LH: But of course. That is the job of a judge.
S: Knowing nothing about the topic under enquiry?
LH: Naturally. I shall learn about it when I hear the experts.
S: And will you then become an expert in pandemics?
LH: It all depends what you mean by an expert, O Socrates.
S: Please tell me, then, what you mean.
LH: In this case, by being able to judge the value of what experts tell me and make recommendations as to the handling of future pandemics on the strength of that evidence.
S: So someone who is not an expert will be able to produce judgments by listening to experts?
LH: And questioning them, O Socrates, which is where a judge’s expertise lies.
S: But how, lacking expertise yourself, will you know what questions to ask, or whether experts are right or not?
LH: Obviously, I shall judge from other experts.
S: So would you not then think experts far better judges of the work of other experts than non-experts?
LH: Obviously I would if they, like me, really had the skill of judging.
S: Quite right, Lady Hallett! I myself have often said how important it is to know one knows nothing. It makes one such a better judge.
LH: So no more know-all philosophers, O Socrates?
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