NYgs23
10-09-2009, 06:57 AM
A warmonger has won the "peace" prize. Does this make the Nobel Prize a joke? No! It's always been a joke. The five original prizes were endowed in 1895 as per the will of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, supposedly to leave a better legacy behind than inventing something used to blow up large numbers of people. A sixth prize, in Economics, was endowed by the Riksbank, the central bank of Sweden, in 1968. "Nobel laureates" are selected by the following institutions:
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded by the Karolinska Institute, a medical university.
The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded by the Swedish Academy, a Royal Academy (a scholarly institute chartered by the monarchy of Sweden) founded to promote the Swedish language.
The Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, and Economics are awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, another Royal Academy, this one founded "to promote the sciences and strengthen their influence in society."
And finally, the great Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, a group of five people nominated by...the Norwegian Parliament.
So what imbues these people and institutions with the authority to decide who deserves this or that prize? The answer is: absolutely nothing. You and I have just as much authority to hand out prizes as these folks. On what grounds do they make their decisions? And why are the categories Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Medicine, Economics, and Peace? Why don't shopkeepers or structural engineers get a prize? The Nobel Prize seems to me to be another artifact of the Progressive Era worship of "expertise," and the idea that "experts" should have special power and authority. But who decides who's an "expert." Usually, the answer turns out to be other "experts." What you end up with is an insular establishment of self-appointed gatekeepers and oligarchs who see themselves as the philosopher-kings of their discipline. This attitude infect academia and the arts on almost every level. The very idea of some obscure cliques in Scandinavia doling out a supposedly authoritative prize is part and parcel of this attitude.
Here are some past Nobel Peace Prize winners:
Theodore Roosevelt (1906)
Woodrow Wilson (1919)
Henry Kissinger (1973)
The United Nations (2001)
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded by the Karolinska Institute, a medical university.
The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded by the Swedish Academy, a Royal Academy (a scholarly institute chartered by the monarchy of Sweden) founded to promote the Swedish language.
The Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, and Economics are awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, another Royal Academy, this one founded "to promote the sciences and strengthen their influence in society."
And finally, the great Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, a group of five people nominated by...the Norwegian Parliament.
So what imbues these people and institutions with the authority to decide who deserves this or that prize? The answer is: absolutely nothing. You and I have just as much authority to hand out prizes as these folks. On what grounds do they make their decisions? And why are the categories Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Medicine, Economics, and Peace? Why don't shopkeepers or structural engineers get a prize? The Nobel Prize seems to me to be another artifact of the Progressive Era worship of "expertise," and the idea that "experts" should have special power and authority. But who decides who's an "expert." Usually, the answer turns out to be other "experts." What you end up with is an insular establishment of self-appointed gatekeepers and oligarchs who see themselves as the philosopher-kings of their discipline. This attitude infect academia and the arts on almost every level. The very idea of some obscure cliques in Scandinavia doling out a supposedly authoritative prize is part and parcel of this attitude.
Here are some past Nobel Peace Prize winners:
Theodore Roosevelt (1906)
Woodrow Wilson (1919)
Henry Kissinger (1973)
The United Nations (2001)