What is the role of "authority" in scholarship? AKMA posts ("Scholars and Oracles") on the ways we use "so-and-so said it" or an appeal to authority in both everyday life and in scholarship.
The post struck home, as I've just been in marking-mode (when I've not been miserable with flu) for months (don't worry, both are pretty much over now). One of my criteria for most assignments is "use of evidence" and I regularly find myself commenting to students:
As you read do not forget to ask: How do you I know that? As you write remember to provide answers for your reader.Sometimes I even put it stronger with comments like:
... and if no answer is available be aware that you do NOT know "that"!And yet, scholarly articles and monographs regularly and habitually cite "authorities". And [To start a second sentence with a conjunction!] if peer review works "authorities" should be (at least somewhat) authoritative. And yet [See, now I've started I cannot resist!!] scholarship is surely about evidence and argument, not about authority!
I think AKMA makes good points about our need to rely (more?) on authorities outside our Fields of expertise, but like him I'm uncomfortable with that...
;-) Ah, how simple were the "good old days" when ipse dixit ended the affair. ;-) ¶ 9:52 AM
[to Del.icio.us]
I am reminded of how the crowds loved Jesus' teaching "because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law" (Mark 1:22 TNIV), who much like some modern scholars endlessly quoted other authorities.
I note also that Jesus gave his authority to his disciples, explicitly over evil spirits (Mark 6:7) but also implicitly to teach in his name with the same authority with which he taught (Matthew 28:18-20). Thus the only authority which we as Christians need to cite is that of Jesus - and perhaps (as I do) that of the Bible through which his teaching comes to us.
By 
Peter Kirk, at
July 28, 2006 4:48 AM
I have cited this posting, not as an authority but as a discussion starter, in a posting on my own blog. In this I have expanded on my previous comment, and extended its scope beyond the field of scholarship.
By Peter Kirk, at
July 28, 2006 10:50 AM
When I make papers, I find myself writing "Asserted, not argued" and "Why? all the time.
By AKMA, at
July 30, 2006 2:18 AM
