Almost a year after his personal meeting with the editor of Transfers, Egor’s article was published in the journal. Unfortunately, it is behind a paywall, but you can definitely reach out to the author and request a PDF. The paper focuses on the search for the source of epistemic superiority and engages with recent debates around the concept of technocracy. It draws on theoretical insights from Thorstein Veblen’s oeuvre and findings from anarchist thinkers. The reintroduction of a trolleybus service in Prague is offered as an empirical illustration. The paper’s central argument is that the procedures of knowledge production are the main source of epistemic superiority. This shifts the focus from an analytical value in itself to the executive mechanisms that enable a specific type of expertise.
Abstract
“In recent debates around the concept of technocracy, the issues of “technology” and “skill” (tekhne) and “power” (kratos) have been absent, even though the combination of these words defines the term. To address the issue of tekhne, I draw on Thorsten Veblen’s theoretical justification of the epistemic differences between engineers and financiers. For kratos, I invoke the anarchist critique of authority. The theoretical argument presented in this article claims that epistemic superiority lies in the procedures of knowledge production. Epistemological issues taken as algorithms in the nexus with bureaucratic mechanisms of execution demand a specific type of knowledge. Empirical observations from the reopening of a trolleybus system in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, show that local engineers have formulated this agenda and that the Czech tradition of electrical engineering in the transport sector plays a crucial role. In turn, the existing procedures for the execution of transportation-related agendas allow engineers to realize their vision for decarbonizing a diesel bus fleet.”
Find the paper here.