Authority and Opinion
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I found something interesting in an interview with Michael Foucault by James O’Higgins in SALAMAGUNDI 1982 entitled “Sexual Choice, Sexual Act.” I stumbled on this article by accident, and what I found interesting has nothing to do with the subject matter. Here is the excerpt that caught my attention:
MF: On this question I have absolutely nothing to say. “No comment.”
JOH: Does this mean you think the question is unanswerable, or bogus, or does simply not interest you?
MF: No, none of these. I just don’t believe in talking about things that go beyond my expertise. It’s not my problem and I don’t like talking about things that are not really the object of my work. On this question I can only have an opinion; since it is only an opinion it is without interest.
JOH: But opinions can be interesting, don’t you agree?
MF: Sure, I could offer my opinion, but this would only makes sense if everybody and anybody’s oponions were also being consulted. I don’t want to make use of a position of authority while I’m being interviewed to traffic in opinions.
The reason this is interesting to me is that in my travels after the award in 2017 I’m being asked numerous times about subject matters I have absolutely no knowledge of. My usual response is similar to Foucault’s, pointing out the dilemma such questions produce. I differ from him in actually offering an opinion yet at the same time emphasizing that the opinion I’m offering is arbitrary, and not in any way related to my authority in my field.
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