Evidence, Inference and Enquiry
Philip Dawid, William Twining, and Mimi Vasilaki
Abstract
Evidence — its nature and interpretation — is the key to many topical debates and concerns such as global warming, evolution, the search for weapons of mass destruction, DNA profiling, and evidence-based medicine. In 2004, University College London launched a cross-disciplinary research programme ‘Evidence, Inference and Enquiry’ to explore the question: ‘Can there be an integrated multidisciplinary science of evidence?’ While this question was hotly contested and no clear final consensus emerged, much was learned on the journey. This book, based on the closing conference of the programme held ... More
Evidence — its nature and interpretation — is the key to many topical debates and concerns such as global warming, evolution, the search for weapons of mass destruction, DNA profiling, and evidence-based medicine. In 2004, University College London launched a cross-disciplinary research programme ‘Evidence, Inference and Enquiry’ to explore the question: ‘Can there be an integrated multidisciplinary science of evidence?’ While this question was hotly contested and no clear final consensus emerged, much was learned on the journey. This book, based on the closing conference of the programme held at the British Academy in December 2007, illustrates the complexity of the subject, with seventeen chapters written from a diversity of perspectives including Archaeology, Computer Science, Economics, Education, Health, History, Law, Psychology, Philosophy, and Statistics. General issues covered include principles and systems for handling complex evidence, evidence for policy-making, and human evidence-processing, as well as the very possibility of systematising the study of evidence.
Keywords:
evidence,
global warming,
evolution,
DNA profiling,
evidence-based medicine,
University College London,
British Academy,
policy-making,
human evidence-processing
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2011 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780197264843 |
Published to British Academy Scholarship Online: January 2013 |
DOI:10.5871/bacad/9780197264843.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Philip Dawid, editor
Professor of Statistics, University of Cambridge
William Twining, editor
Quain Professor of Jurisprudence Emeritus, University College London
Mimi Vasilaki, editor
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