Opinions of experts like in the field of medicine are now used commercially to further enhance the shopper’s reliability on the product. A notable example is the participation of physicians in cigarette sales in the 1930’s to the 1950’s. Like Camel’s 1946 advertisement, with their logo “More Doctors Smoke Camels”, competing tobacco companies used the promising image of physicians to assuage the harmfulness of cigarettes. This suggests that advertising companies believe that experts have an impact on influencing customers despite the damaging effects of the product.
From this example we can ask a few questions regarding the question: “How important are the opinions of experts in the search of knowledge?” First of all, who are experts? Is it possible for anyone to be an expert given that they know facts about a specific field? If that is the case, would it mean that anyone can be a doctor as long as they know all the terminology? In my view, the fine line that determines an expert is if they have both the specific education degree of expertise and the field experience applying the materials learned. Therefore, it would make sense that those who went through both the training and the degree would be experts in medicine. I then thought about how their opinions would matter to us. Since experts are individuals themselves, their views on a specific matter would likely be subjective and subject to be biased. Thinking of these questions in mind, I came to draw a knowledge question: To what extent can we trust the opinions of experts in searching for knowledge?
There are experts in the same field that have a PhD in different universities like UBC, Harvard and more. What feature do we use then to determine who is a more informed expert? I...
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...l in that they make similar rational decisions like us. As shown in the case study regarding whether or not to send the patient to do the hip surgery or to test the two medicines that he didn’t try, the physicians chose to just send him off to hip surgery due to the complications they would face when choosing over which medication they should try. From this study, it shows that we, even the experts who seem to make rational decisions may actually not be as rational as we think they are.
The knowledge question “To what extent do we trust the opinions of experts in searching for knowledge” is relevant to our daily lives because we rely on them for our decision making and issues regarding life and death. It is important that we are aware of both arguments of the same issue so we’ll be conscious of both opinions and using both our knowledge and belief, form knowledge.
The Onion’s mock press release markets a product called MagnaSoles. By formulating a mock advertisement a situation is created where The Onion can criticize modern day advertising. Furthermore, they can go as far as to highlight the lucrative statements that are made by advertisements that seduce consumers to believe in the “science” behind their product and make a purchase. The Onion uses a satirical and humorous tone compiled with made up scientific diction to highlight the manner in which consumers believe anything that is told to them and how powerful companies have become through their words whether true or false.
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising refers to one of the marketing strategies in a pharmaceutical industry. As pharmaceutical products directly affect people's lives and health, many industrialized countries ban DTC advertisements; the United States and New Zealand are the only industrialized countries that allow DTC advertising of prescription medicines. However, there is a controversy over whether DTC advertising, as one of the most effective forms of mass communication, should be more regulated than it is now. This debate is ongoing. This research argument, however, contends that people need stronger regulations against many DTC advertisements in the pharmaceutical industry because they are usually manipulative and misleading to people.
It has been noted from the text that our perception influences the thinking and decisions we make. It shows that choices differ because of the different understanding that individual have. In addition, our intuition is essential and at many times it provides us with guidance on how to make decisions. However, we can see that this intuition can be misleading at times and therefore the best thing is to evaluate the available evidence before making decisions. In my view decision making tends to have disciplinary across individuals. The best thing can be is to take time and individuals should not rush when it comes to making critical decisions. It is because of the outcomes that might be expected in the
Smoking has been a major part of American culture since the end of the nineteenth century. While it made its most public debut while prohibition of alcohol was going on, it was seen as a negative thing just the same as drinking. With people beginning to feel negatively against smoking, as the same as drinking alcohol, it almost made the activity more popular. At this time there was a “rise in popularity in tobacco, especially in its new and most devious form, the cigarette” (Brandt, p.45).What brand a person smoked was all on preference, but the popularity of them was all on how it was advertised. It was known that a person “buys brands rather than cigarettes and it is the advertising that has built up this prestige in the consumers’ eyes for a particular product (Brandt, p. 78)”. One of the first main brands that became popular was Camel under the company of RJ Reynolds. Camel cigarettes were very successful and their advertisements are more than half the reason for it.
Pearsosn, H. (2013). Science and Intuition: Do both have a Place in Clinical Decision Making?
Ethical judgements limit the methods available in the production of knowledge in both the arts and the natural sciences. Discuss.
Over the last 50 years, smoking and the public image of smoking has changed dramatically. Americans have learned the harmful effects of smoking and have put a heavy disdain on the use of it. The number of new smokers has drastically dropped over the years and many that had previously smoked have stopped. Some have turned to electronic cigarettes as a safer way to intake nicotine. Over the years, smoking advertisements have changed drastically. Nowadays, tobacco advertisements are virtually non-existent in our society, but when they were abundant they depicted smoking as a cool and sophisticated activity. Today, smoking advertisements are shown by electronic cigarette companies. These companies emphasize the healthier lifestyle these products
“We look for medicine to be an orderly field of knowledge and procedure. But it is not. It is an imperfect science, an enterprise of constantly changing knowledge, uncertain information, fallible individuals, and at the same time lives on the line.” There is more to being a great physician than having intellect, clinical experience, and competence in the medical field. A doctor must be daring and genuinely driven to positively impact a patient’s life. A doctor needs stand tall, even in the face of uncertainty.
Knowledge is basically the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. It consists of facts and skills acquired by a person through experience or education. Ethical considerations are relative to one’s own knowledge, experience, and value system. According to Hunt and Vitell (1986), ethical judgment is the process of considering several alternatives and choosing the most ethical alternative. For Rest (1986), ethical judgment is the process by which an individual determines that one alternative is morally right and another alternative is morally wrong. “Broadly, ethical judgement can be defined so as to include the decision process as well as the action itself.” This essay aims to discuss the way in which ethical judgements limit the methods available in the production of knowledge in both the arts and natural sciences.
In “The Death of Expertise” the author, Tom Nichols, expresses his concerns and fears about the ignorant public and their views on experts and the things they are experts in. Nichols states that, in today’s society, a backlash of hate and anger will ensue when the public is faced with an “assertion of expertise.” Nichols argues that people resent the thought of being wrong or different opinions “altering their own thoughts and changing the way they live.” Nichols states that even though everyone has equal rights, not everyone is an equal expert, which the public does not receive well. Nichols voices his worries about the “death of the expert” the bridge that separated the experts from the general public has collapsed and with it the idea that the experts know what they are talking about. The idea Nichols is trying to convey is not the “death of actual expertise,” instead what he fears had died is “any acknowledgement of expertise as anything that should alter our thoughts or change the way we live.” (Nichols, 1) There will always be experts in various fields; however people have stopped listening to them in order to protect their own opinions.
Knowledge has always been a parameter through which human progress has been measured, Knowledge could be an aspect gained from a fact or a situation present. The production of knowledge relies on different ways of knowing, sense perception, emotion, reason and language. The production of knowledge differs from each human being leading to acquiring of personal knowledge and contributing to the shared knowledge. Society also plays a role in influencing the production of knowledge through various judgments that it passes on the manner in which knowledge is produced. Ethics is a set of principles which are morally right and are used to govern people’s actions and on the basis of that judgments are passed, rules made and norms are established. This leads us to the issue : to what extent does compromising ethical judgement lead to useful knowledge in natural science and arts.
How we approach the question of knowledge is pivotal. If the definition of knowledge is a necessary truth, then we should aim for a real definition for theoretical and practical knowledge. Methodology examines the purpose for the definition and how we arrived to it. The reader is now aware of the various ways to dissect what knowledge is. This entails the possibility of knowledge being a set of truths; from which it follows that one cannot possibly give a single definition. The definition given must therefore satisfy certain desiderata , while being strong enough to demonstrate clarity without losing the reader. If we base our definition on every counter-example that disproves our original definition then it becomes ad hoc. This is the case for our current defini...
To opinionate or to be opinionated as defined by Webster means to have an unduly adhering to one's own opinion or to preconceived notions. In “laymen’s terms“ basically it is to strongly stick to one’s own point of view. If education is so vast than how can someone be “well” at it? ~Kohn reveals that his wife who is a physician is hesitant at times reciting multiplication. This does not mean she is uneducated when indeed she may be responsible for saving someone’s life. Yet because she cannot teach a math class or write the President’s inauguration speech it portrays as if she is not “erudite” Contrarily speaking does the fact that she is a Physician depicts as her being smarter than someone who works performs “blue collar” work? Does some levels of education coexist with one’s occupation?
In this article “Tobacco Advertisements Encouraging Smoking” the author claims that the advertisement makes cigarettes most successful product in American history. According to the office of the Surgeon General, in1998, tobacco companies spent 6.7 billion dollars on marketing (Williams.pp.50). We see the big poster on the wall and a hero demonstrates smoke as a good behavior in the move. As we look back to 2007 campaign for the feminine Camel No.9 brand, girls’ night parties, gift bags, and print ads in fashion magazines had a significant impact on teens. Indeed, tobacco companies have a strategic advertisement for consumers to smoke (Roman pp.1). However, I believe that the tobacco companies maintaining cigarettes ads in order to play role in people life to make a decision to smoke. As I see the three main reasons to start smoking; Advertising, Friends smoke, and Family members smoke.
While the experience, proven technique, or research of an expert on a given subject are all tremendous guides in the quest for knowledge, the opinion of said expert will almost certainly hinder or deter one in the pursuit of knowledge. The very nature of an opinion is something that undoubtedly challenges the three aforementioned factors in regards to the search of knowledge. Most definitions of the word “opinion” have the same characteristics in diction, with “a belief,” “a personal view,” and “estimate” all topping the list of the most commonly used phrases and words. The most commonly used phrases and words in the diction of the definitions of “knowledge” are “truth,” “state of knowing,” and “study or investigation.” In comparison, it is clear to see that the two terms are not only contradictions, but are also on opposite ends on the spectrum in regards to seeking knowledge. So while one can surely base an opinion upon experience or research, the opinion of an expert is most likely created by personal interest, emotion, or a lack of research. Therefore, an opinion will cause one to stray off the path in the proverbial “quest for knowledge,” simply because an opinion is based on personal insight, while fact is absolute truth, unbiased in its nature.