Thanks-- so more recently then. I agree about Plato and the common man, though I think a lot of that also came more from later interpretations by christeo plato

Thanks-- so more recently then. I agree about Plato and the common man, though I think a lot of that also came more from later interpretations by christeo platonists who espoused a sort dualism where spirit was good and matter was bad. But yeah, his idea of "philosopher kings" ruling over things doesn't really elevate then common man either, and that's without getting into criticism of the idea itself. I do like his way if talking out a problem with ever more precise questions disections and dissections if a problem, but it's a little too strong on pure reason and not enough on empiricism. My own observations on the recent issues of authority are a little different though, viewing it as part of a longer trend. From my (limmited) perspective it seemed like before the power of the internet, Expertise ruled the day. When the internet really hit mainstream in the early 00's there began a great skepticism of experts, that there was no reason to regard their assessment any higher than another. And there's a little something to that since there's no inherent reason why a non expert can't understand something too. But then it seemed to go too far-- expertise is sort of just another way of saying someone has a lot of experience, which can provide a useful perspective. And citing authority is not always a fallacy of appeal to authority. But the push against expertise went too far, and people began discounting someone's point of view precisely because they were an expert if there was a disagreement rather than on the merits. I saw this play out in things like Wikipedia Talk pages about topics. Now perhaps the pendulum is swinging back in the other direction again. I guess the hope is that at some point, at least for a while, it will stay in the middle for a while. As Aristotle liked to say: "The mean between extremes". I've always tried to keep that outlook-- skepticism towards most extremes. So it goes