The nature and nurture of expertise

a fourth dimension

Gregory J. Feist

pp. 275-288

in: Evan Selinger, David A. Stone, Gregory J. Feist (eds), Tacit knowledge, Phenomenology and the cognitive sciences 12 (2), 2013.

Abstract

One formative idea behind the workshop on expertise in Berkeley in August of 2010 was to develop a viable "trading zone" of ideas, which is defined as a location "in which communities with a deep problem of communication manage to communicate" (Collins et al. 2010, p. 8). In the current case, the goal is to have a trading zone between philosophers, sociologists, and psychologists who communicate their ideas on expertise such that productive interdisciplinary collaboration results. In this paper, I review Harry Collins' three-dimensional model of expertise and provide a very brief and non-inclusive overview of a psychological response. In addition, I propose an addendum to the model by adding a fourth—natural talent—dimension.