[Ads-l] [for QI] "For every expert there is an equal and opposite witness"

Mon Jul 14 13:37:30 UTC 2025

Excellent work Peter and Ben. It is difficult to trace because the
notion can be expressed in many ways.
Here is a partial match in 1913.

Date: 1913 Copyright
Book Title: Freshman Rhetoric
Author: John Rothwell Slater PhD (Professor of Rhetoric and English
Literature in the University of Rochester)
Publisher: D. C. Heath & Company, New York
Chapter 12: Argumentation
Quote Page 182 and 183
Database: Google Books
https://books.google.com/books?id=zp0CAAAAYAAJ&q=%22every+expert%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
Expert testimony of the ordinary sort offered in the courts is very
far from being entitled to claim such authority. For every expert
witness on one side another expert can usually be found on the
opposite side; and this is true not only of lawsuits and criminal
trials, but also of any ordinary question involving technical matters.
[End excerpt]

Here is a partial match in 1964.

Year: 1968 Reprint (1964 Copyright)
Book Title: Beyond the Nation State: Functionalism and International
Organization
Author: Ernst B. Haas
Publisher: Stanford University Press, Stanford, California
Chapter 13: World Integration and International Organization
Page 454 and 455
Database: Internet Archive

[Begin excerpt]
In fact the knowledge adequate to deal with crisis need not be
perfect. It is "crash" knowledge, pressed into service to meet an
overpowering need perceived by the politician. Yet let us remember
that for every expert there is a counter-expert.
[End excerpt]

Here is a full match in 1974. The author of this book named a law after himself.

Date: 1974 Copyright
Book Title: Give & Take: The Complete Guide To Negotiating Strategies
and Tactics
Author: Chester L. Karrass (Chester Louis Karrass)
Publisher: Thomas Y. Crowell, New York
Chapter: Experts: The Use and Abuse Of
Quote Page 64
Database: Internet Archive

[Begin excerpt]
Probably the best defense against an expert is getting your own.
Remember Karrass' Law of Experts: "For every expert there is an equal
and opposite expert."
[End excerpt]

Arthur C. Clarke did use the expression in 1998, but he disclaimed credit.

[ref] 1999, Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!: Collected Essays
1934-1998 by Arthur C. Clarke, Edited by Ian T. Macauley, Part Seven:
Postscript: 2000 and Beyond, Essay: Science and Society, Start Page
525, Quote Page 525, (Bibliographic note in book on page 545: "Science
and Society," published as "Presidents, Experts, and Asteroids," first
appeared in Science, June 5, 1998), Published by St. Martin's Press,
New York. (Verified on paper) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert.
—Late-twentieth-century folklore
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Mon, Jul 14, 2025 at 1:04 AM mr_peter_morris at outlook.com
<mr_peter_morris at outlook.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks for that, Ben.
>
> It's not unlike the things Charles Fort said, but I'm dubious.
>
> As  Mark Twain said: "Never trust the attribution of a
> quote, unless book and chapter are specified, and then only
> half the time"
>
> Still, he's  another candidate for the originator.
>
>
>
> ------ Original Message ------
> From "Ben Zimmer" <bgzimmer at gmail.com<mailto:bgzimmer at gmail.com>>
> To "mr_peter_morris at outlook.com<mailto:mr_peter_morris at outlook.com>" <mr_peter_morris at outlook.com<mailto:mr_peter_morris at outlook.com>>
> Cc ADS-L at listserv.uga.edu<mailto:ADS-L at listserv.uga.edu>
> Date 14/07/2025 04:17:27
> Subject Re: [for QI] "For every expert there is an equal and opposite witness"
>
> Looks like that should be Michell, not Michel. In _The Schumacher Lectures_ (1981), John Michell attributes the saying to Charles Fort.
>
> https://archive.org/details/schumacherlectur0000unse/page/108/mode/1up
>
> On Sun, Jul 13, 2025 at 11:12 PM mr_peter_morris at outlook.com<mailto:mr_peter_morris at outlook.com> <mr_peter_morris at outlook.com<mailto:mr_peter_morris at outlook.com>> wrote:
>
> That should be : "equal and opposite expert"
>
>
> ------ Original Message ------
> From "mr_peter_morris at outlook.com<mailto:mr_peter_morris at outlook.com><mailto:mr_peter_morris at outlook.com<mailto:mr_peter_morris at outlook.com>>" <mr_peter_morris at OUTLOOK.COM<mailto:mr_peter_morris at OUTLOOK.COM><mailto:mr_peter_morris at OUTLOOK.COM<mailto:mr_peter_morris at OUTLOOK.COM>>>
> To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU><mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>>
> Date 14/07/2025 02:24:12
> Subject [for QI] "For every expert there is an equal and opposite witness"
>
> Curious about the origin of this phrase. I can't find it in QI archives.
>
> "For every expert there is an equal and opposite witness"
>
> Quite often used to refer to expert witnesses in a trial.
>
> Wikipedia calls it Gibson's Law, without identifying who is Gibson.
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson%27s_law
>
> Frequently attributed to Arthur C. Clarke, sometimes called his fourth law.
>
> https://agamya.wordpress.com/2015/07/12/arthur-c-clarkes-three-laws/
>
> Lately attributed to author Jasper Fforde, who appears to have used it in
> a 2011 novel, far too late to be its origin.
>
> https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/360598-for-every-expert-there-is-an-equal-and-opposite-expert
>
> Here's an attribution to Michel (1981), but it's not clear on this limited preview who that is.
>
> https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_User_s_Guide_to_Community_Entry_for_th/HKTYUY91QVMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22equal+and+opposite+expert%22&pg=PA5&printsec=frontcover
>
>
> Can the sleuths of ADS do better?
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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