Implicit assumptions: the expert's Achilles heel

摘要

So, as with any profession that requires its individuals to possess expertise, the challenge we face is to retain the advantages of this expertise, while being aware of and managing its downside. Such expertise is underpinned by many assumptions, many of them implicit, and the non-explicit nature of these assumptions often results in a failure to subject them to rigorous analysis. Methods of making these ! implicit assumptions explicit are the key. And what of the Getty kouros? Was it real or a fake? Were the art experts correct or was this a case where the experts were genuinely faced with a new, previously undiscovered style of kouros - one that did not fit their patterns, but was nonetheless genuine? Intriguingly, we may never know. If you visit the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, you'll find the kouros exhibited bearing the plaque "Greek, about 530 B.C., or modern forgery".