- Joined
- Feb 28, 2015
Well actually there is a reason to trust academic authorities. They know more about the subject than you and know more epistemology behind the subject. This argument is used a lot by people that think they actually know the subject but believe a theory is equivalent to a guess, and that a law is above a theory.
There's this weird implication with anti-academics that bribery is always involved in a degree which is a bit of a cop out for actual specialists who invest time and effort to obtain their degrees. Academia is tightly controlled, and often requires a lot more vigorous research and existent sources for their theories -- these are people who specialize in a subject, and conduct research to enhance the field, to allow for us to progress as a more informed society. While there are issues of ethics in the scientific world - such as corporate sponsored studies in nutrition, I would certainly trust someone with a background in genetics and a degree than someone who seems to still think phrenology is a legitimate measure of intelligence.