GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

THEORY OF DEMOCRACY 793
implication is not justified. In regard to economic issues,
which are those chiefly relevant to this particular criticism
of democracy, the expert emphatically does not know, or
rather, as the history of recent years has only too plainly
shown, what he "knows" is often diametrically opposed
to what is "known" by a rival expert. In a general sort
of way, no doubt, economic experts are in a position to
tell us what we must do, if we wish to prosper. We must
not, for instance, impose tariffs and exchange restrictions,
if we wish to increase international trade. But the tariffs
and exchange restrictions of one country are always represented
as regrettable necessities which are imposed upon
it by the provocative tariffs and restrictions of its neighbours.
To deal with the difficulty, international and not
national action is, it is obvious, required; but how to
persuade the nations collectively to take the steps which
the self-interest of each individually demands, is a problem
no more within the competence of the economic expert
than of the man in the street. The expert, then, often
does not know; his knowledge is often opposed to that of
other experts while, more often still, considerations lying
entirely outside the expert's province make it impossible
for the government to take the action which his knowledge
suggests.
THAT THE ENDS OF THE EXPERT MAY BE OTHER
THAN THOSE OF THE COMMUNITY. Though the
expert may have knowledge which the community lacks,
he may also acknowledge values which the community
disavows. The ends which the expert desires to promote
different from those of
may be, indeed they often are,
the ordinary man. An economic expert, for example,
concerned only with the increase of efficiency, may con-
ceive and plan a community of willing industrial slaves,
owning no desires save such as are consonant with the
speeding up of production with a view to the maximization
4
of output; a hygienic expert, concerned only with
health, may demand that men should be required to live