Epistemology of public words: Institutions in times of crisis

Abstract: Rhetoric is a famous ancient art of persuasion. Long time has passed since

the period of Socrates' discussion on the market with interlocutors who are tormented

by issues of goodness, justice, beauty and knowledge. However, rhetoric has survived

and remains the main political tool of individuals who want to have decision-making

power. Such individuals mostly act on behalf of institutions and collectives. The aim of

this paper is to present the rhetorical strategies that epistemic experts use to preserve

authority within their institutions. So, we will call our rhetoricians epistemic experts

and examine their behavior in times of crisis. Easiest way to follow what strategies

experts use to preserve their epistemic position within the community and to increase

the level of trust that other epistemic agents have in them is to focus on crisis periods.

We will list four rhetorical strategies, two internally oriented and two external.

Internally oriented strategies are characterized by more rationalized procedures and

emphasizing the normative position that the epistemic expert takes within the

community. While external rhetorical strategies are aimed at challenging the epistemic

authority of other experts or thwarting the motivation of competing experts. Through

these four rhetorical strategies, we will show what forms public language can take in

times of crisis. In return, we will try to offer a strategy that can be used to identify

abuses of public speech and correct epistemic populism in the community.

Keywords: Rhetorical strategies, epistemic experts, epistemic authority, epistemic

populism.