EPISTEMIC trespassing happens when people who have expertise in one discipline, or area in a discipline, traverse academic boundaries and render an opinion in another, and which is then treated as an expert opinion. Recently, this became fodder for some chatter when Dr. Edsel Salvaña, a member of the government's Technical Advisory Group on Covid-19, criticized Octa Research, an independent group of doctors, researchers and professors, for what he considered as "media-hyped" and "poorly designed studies" in relation to the pandemic.

The issue is actually something with which ordinary citizens would not be able to relate to for it is basically an issue that matters only within and among people who claim expertise. A majority of Filipinos would not even be aware of what epistemic actually means. This is not to diminish the role experts play in issues such as a viral pandemic or to dismiss the capacity of ordinary people to understand the implications when those who falsely claim expertise would acquire the status of being able to shape public policy.

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