Susan Haack, “Evidence Matters: Science, Proof, and Truth in the Law” (Cambridge UP, 2014)
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What is the central problem that Evidence Matters addresses in the law?
Welcome to the New Books and Philosophy channel of the New Books Network. My name is Robert Talese. I'm Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. I co-host the channel with Carrie Figder. Carrie is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Iowa. Today, my guest is Professor Susan Hawk. Her new book is titled Evidence Matters. Science, Proof, and Truth in the Law. It has just been published by Cambridge University Press. Hawk is Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, Cooper Senior Scholar in Arts and Sciences, Professor of Philosophy, and Professor of Law at the University of Miami. Our legal systems are rooted in rules and procedures concerning the burden of proof, the weighing of evidence, and
the reliability and admissibility of testimony, and much else. It seems obvious, then, that the law is in large part an epistemological enterprise. Yet, when one looks at the ways in which judges have wielded epistemological concepts, there's plenty of room for concern. In Evidence Matters, Susan Hawk brings her skill as an epistemologist to bear to on a series of tangles concerning the legal concepts of proof, evidence, and reliability, especially as they apply in a series of notorious toxic tort cases. Along the way, she exposes several philosophical confusions in the law's current understandings of the epistemological concepts that it must wield. And she shows how her own distinctive epistemology, foundherentism, can be useful to the law.
Evidence Matters is an engaging read and a truly impressive interdisciplinary accomplishment. So let's turn to the interview. Hello, Susan Hawk. Hi, Bob. How are you doing today?
I'm fine.
Well, great. Thank you for joining us on New Books and Philosophy.
Oh, you're very welcome.
And thank you, listeners, for tuning into our podcast. Today I'll be talking with Susan about her new book, Evidence Matters, Science, Proof and Truth in the Law. It's a fascinating examination. of a series of interlocking philosophical confusions, we might call them, in the law regarding matters straightforwardly epistemological, actually. Evidence, expert testimony, the admissibility of scientific data into evidence. As Susan puts it, the law is up to its neck in epistemology. And the book shows this quite well. However, as Susan also argues, the law is also an epistemological mess. Her positive project, naturally, is to clear things up. And those of you who know her work will probably agree that there's almost nobody better suited to clearing things up than Susan Hawke.
So there's a lot to talk about, and this is a book that I highly recommend to philosophers who are interested in epistemology, social philosophy, philosophy of law, political theory. But why don't we begin with the author, as we usually do? Susan, why don't we have you tell us a bit about yourself and how you came to this project?
Okay. Well, your listeners can hear. I don't have to tell them I was born and brought up in Britain. and educated in Britain. Um, I think my first encounter with philosophy was I picked up Richard Robinson's book, An Atheist's Values, just from the library shelf while I was a schoolgirl. I found it fascinating, but I think if someone had told me it was philosophy, I would have been surprised. I didn't know what philosophy was. Well, um, eventually I went to Oxford, um, at the instigation, I might say, of an inspiring history teacher whom a few years ago I saw again for the first time in many, many years and was delighted to discover he had a very successful career. And shared my enthusiasm for Dorothy Sayers, so
that was
wonderful. I was the first person in my family to go to university, so Oxford was kind of shocking. Also very exciting. I read politics, philosophy, and economics, thinking politics is really interesting, and discovered philosophy was even more interesting. So that's how I got hooked. My earliest work was in philosophy of logic, with deviant logic and philosophy of logics. I have a suspicion that part of the reason that I was attracted to this was, at that point in time, a woman who did philosophy was supposed to do ethics.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the central problem that Evidence Matters addresses in the law?
0:01–19:44
2
How did Susan Haack’s personal and academic journey lead her to work on legal evidence?
19:44–59:31
3
What is Foundherentism and how does it differ from traditional foundationalism and coherentism?
59:31–1:22:54
4
How does the crossword‑puzzle analogy illustrate the three dimensions of evidential quality?
1:22:54–1:24:20
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from New Books in Philosophy
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