ABSTRACT
Democratic expertise—expertise turned toward the service of democratic problem solving—has at least two central foci: Counteracting bias by moving from phoney neutrality to thoughtful partisanship, working disproportionately to assist have-nots in understanding and making their case; and assisting all partisans in coping with uncertainties. There surely are tasks for experts other than helping counteract bias and helping partisans cope with uncertainties: inventing valves, dreaming up formulas, running toxicological screens. All of these activities are value imbued, and can go astray in many ways. Democratic expertise is something of a philosopher's stone; it has the capacity to transmute conflicts among knowledge claims, power holders, and a seemingly impossible diversity of partisan belligerents into relatively intelligent and fair collective problem solving. For the key democratic contributions of expertise are to help political participants counteract bias and cope with uncertainty, leading disagreeing partisans to think more knowledge-ably and negotiate more effectively.
