Who's An Authority?

What many intellectuals seem not to understand is that even being the world’s leading authority on a particular subject, such as admiralty law or Mayan civilization, does not confer even minimal competence on other subjects, such as antitrust law, environmental issues or foreign policy.  As British writer Lowes Dickinson said of scientists, "beside being prejudiced, they suppose that the fact that they are men of science gives their prejudices value.”

Thomas Sowell, Intellectuals and Society, p.14