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Consider the following passages:unmigrated-wiki-markup

"The authority relation is . . . one of inequality, the \ [bearer of\] authority being the superior, and those subject to authority being the inferiors" (_The Nature and Limits of Authority_: 15).

"The general justification of epistemic authority is based on the fact that people are unequal in ability, some being more capable intellectually than others, the fact that some people know more than others, the fact that some data are available only to certain persons who are appropriately located in space and time, and the fact that there is so much that can be known and that no one can know it all. . . .The bearer of authority serves either as a guide or as a source for the person subject to epistemic authority who turns to the authority for information, guidance, or advice and who takes advantage of the bearer's superior knowledge" (38).unmigrated-wiki-markup

"The justification of Y's belief \ [_sc_. on the basis of authorities\] is the advantage that Y gains by believing those who have superior knowledge" (39).

"X is a de facto competence authority for Y if, in some field R, Y is inferior in skill to X and Y either imitates X in R or does in R as X tells Y to do (though such telling is not to be construed as commanding)" (43).

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