Towards the Model of Contributory Experts Generalists
Towards the Model of Contributory Experts Generalists

Summary/Abstract: The study of expertise has focused on the concept of specialization and specialists, both from a sociological and a biological perspective. It has been taken for granted that expertise concerns only specialization; even an individual characterized as a “polymath” or homo universalis is considered to be an expert specialist in many fields. Can expert specialists in many fields exist today? This question is deceitful or irrelevant since it cannot accommodate the concept of individuals who are neither specialists nor “poly-specialists”, but have knowledge of a different level: not analytic, but, rather, synthetic and abstract stemming out from general surveillance, not from specific experience. Here, a new type of expert is proposed: a contributory expert generalist. Their necessity stems from the methodology of epistēmē proper. Their characteristics will be identified and discussed, some empirical examples will be given and their expert status is going to be discussed using various theoretical approaches on expertise, namely SEA, SEE and STS (Science of Exceptional Achievement, Study of Expertise and Experience, Science Technology and Society).

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