Research Requirement:
For this essay, you should use at least three sources (not counting Nicholsâs book), though the type may depend on the topic you choose. For instance, for some topics, recent newspaper/magazine/internet articles may provide your best sources; for others, more scholarly works (perhaps journal articles) may be most convincing.
These three sources are in addition to Nicholsâs book. (You should also have at least three quotations from The Death of Expertise.)
The Topics:
Write an essay of at least 1000 words (4 typewritten pages) on the following topic. Remember that you need a thesis that takes a stand; you will not simply be summarizing information.
- Nichols believes that celebrities who pretend to expertise do a great deal of damage. Look at one celebrity âexpertâ (like Jim Carrey, Jenny McCarthy, or Gwenyth Paltrow) and at the arguments he/she makes (perhaps about vaccines or female reproductive health). How much does the celebrity âexpertâ draw on the expertise of real experts? What does the celebrity âexpertâ found his/her beliefs on? How does he/she attempt to establish credibility?
(Topic 4), keep the focus on the celebrity and what he/she says about the issue (like vaccines) and what evidence he/she provides (or doesnât provide). Donât just use the celebrity as a minor example in an argument about, say, the safety of vaccines. Instead, examine the ways in which the celebrity does/does not create credibility as an expert.
Sample Solution
n small before it became small. Moreover, if things only became smaller, and not larger, eventually everything would be miniscule. And if it was the other way around, where everything only became larger, and not smaller, everything would eventually be one thing, because everything would have joined together. If this were the case then we would notice that things only become smaller, shorter, or uglier, and never their opposites, or vice versa. Socrates shows that things do transition from two opposites, by referencing to observable examples. He contrasts this to death, and claims that there has to be a cycle of becoming alive and becoming dead, or else everything would become dead, or vice versa. The analogies that Socrates uses are applicable to every corporeal thing in the universe. Everything is either large or small, tall or short, etcetera. He claims that there is a process of becoming from its opposite (e.g. something becoming larger from being small), and that this process is cyclical. For if everythi>
n small before it became small. Moreover, if things only became smaller, and not larger, eventually everything would be miniscule. And if it was the other way around, where everything only became larger, and not smaller, everything would eventually be one thing, because everything would have joined together. If this were the case then we would notice that things only become smaller, shorter, or uglier, and never their opposites, or vice versa. Socrates shows that things do transition from two opposites, by referencing to observable examples. He contrasts this to death, and claims that there has to be a cycle of becoming alive and becoming dead, or else everything would become dead, or vice versa. The analogies that Socrates uses are applicable to every corporeal thing in the universe. Everything is either large or small, tall or short, etcetera. He claims that there is a process of becoming from its opposite (e.g. something becoming larger from being small), and that this process is cyclical. For if everythi>
