The possibility of ethical expertise

Can we legitimately speak of ethics experts? Recent literature in philosophy and medical ethics addresses this important question but does not offer a satisfactory answer. Part of the problem is the absence of an examination of what it means to be an 'expert' in general. I therefore begin by reviewing my analysis of expertise which appeared earlier in this journal. We speak of two kinds of experts: persons whose expertise is in virtue of what they know ('epistemic' expertise), or what they do ('performative' expertise). Applying this analysis to the domain of ethics, I argue that we may speak of ethical expertise in three epistemic senses: a) expertise in descriptive ethics, b) expertise in metaethics, c) expertise in normative ethics, and in a performative sense: d) expertise in living a good life. I conclude with a brief description of some social roles of ethics experts.