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Testimony
Kinds of Testimony Selected AbstractsTHE NATURE OF TESTIMONYPACIFIC PHILOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2006JENNIFER LACKEY I then offer a diagnosis of the widespread disagreement regarding this topic; specifically, I argue that our concept of testimony has two different aspects to it. Inadequate views of testimony, I claim, result either from collapsing these two aspects into a single account or from a failure to recognize one of them. Finally, I develop an alternative view of testimony that captures both aspects of the nature of testimony and thereby provides the basis for an illuminating theory of testimony's epistemological significance. [source] INDEFENSIBLE MIDDLE GROUND FOR LOCAL REDUCTIONISM ABOUT TESTIMONYRATIO, Issue 2 2009Axel Gelfert Local reductionism purports to defend a middle ground in the debate about the epistemic status of testimony-based beliefs. It does so by acknowledging the practical ineliminability of testimony as a source of knowledge, while insisting that such an acknowledgment need not entail a default-acceptance view, according to which there exists an irreducible warrant for accepting testimony. The present paper argues that local reductionism is unsuccessful in its attempt to steer a middle path between reductionism and anti-reductionism about testimonial justification. In particular, it challenges local reductionism ,from within', without appealing to anti-reductionist intuitions. By offering novel arguments to the effect that local reductionism fails by its own standards, the present paper considerably strengthens the case against this version of reductionism. Local reductionism, it is argued, fails for three main reasons. First, it cannot account for the rationality of testimonial rejection in paradigmatic cases, even though the possibility of rational rejection is thought to be of central justificatory importance. Second, it does not provide a sufficiently distinct non-testimonial basis to which testimonial justification can be successfully reduced. Finally, local reductionism is shown to be an intrinsically unstable position, in danger of collapsing into full-fledged ,credulism' of the kind historically associated with Thomas Reid. [source] More than "Cheap Sentimentality": Victim Testimony at Nuremberg, the Eichmann Trial, and Truth Commissions1CONSTELLATIONS: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CRITICAL AND DEMOCRATIC THEORY, Issue 2 2008Sonali Chakravarti First page of article [source] AIChE offers technological insights to the public policy debate on global climate changeENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, Issue 3 2000David E. Gushee Global climate change has been a major issue on the national political agenda since 1988. Several Committees on Capitol Hill conducted hearings concerning the heat waves then searing the nation. Testimony by several well-regarded scientists at those hearings that "we ain't seen nothing yet" led to impressive headlines in the national media. Since then, unusually high temperatures, a succession of forecasts of serious negative impacts from the projected continued warming, and well-publicized Congressional hearings led to the creation of the United Nation's Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol. As a result, climate change is on just about every technology organization's agenda. In 1996, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers joined the list of organizations formally responding to the issue. The Government Relations Committee (GRC) formed a Task Force on Climate Change, made up of Institute members active in a number of aspects of the issue area. The charge to the Task Force: Look for opportunities for the Institute to contribute to the public policy debate on the issue and frame position papers accordingly. The first major conclusion of the Task Force was that AIChE is not in a position to state whether or not global climate change is a real public policy problem. However, to the extent that the public policy process treats climate change as an issue, the Institute is well positioned to comment on the technical merits of proposed policy responses. The Task Force recommended this posture to the GRC, which agreed. [source] Commentary: Trauma and Testimony: Between Law and DisciplineETHOS, Issue 3 2007Veena Das First page of article [source] Testimony and Trauma in Herta Müller's HerztierGERMAN LIFE AND LETTERS, Issue 1 2000Beverley Driver Eddy This article attempts to distinguish between testimony (an account of one's personal, limited knowledge of a crime or an atrocity) and trauma (a reconstructed life-story intended to overcome a troubling, recurring memory by locating that memory within its larger, historical context). It is the author's contention that Herta Müller's novel Herztier is a skilful blending of testimony and trauma narrative that illuminates the terrors of the Ceaus¸escu dictatorship and their lasting impact on its survivors. The testimonial aspects of the novel reveal one's inability to achieve complete knowledge of another's trauma, while the trauma narrative, through skilful incorporation of recurring, ,transfinite' images into the text, links the personal stories of the narrator and her friends by subsuming them and making them part of the history of a larger, national trauma. As Müller's novel makes clear, neither testimony nor trauma narrative is able to heal or bring closure to the victims of the Romanian state terror. [source] ,Testimony (to some extent fictitious)': proofs of age in the first half of the fifteenth century*HISTORICAL RESEARCH, Issue 218 2009Matthew Holford This article offers an assessment of the reliability and value of proofs of age produced c.1400,50. It argues that the testimonies recorded in these proofs must be treated with considerable scepticism. From around 1420 onwards, proofs with demonstrably fictitious or conventional testimonies were produced in increasingly large numbers. The documents had become something of a formality, and it was not expected that they would be closely scrutinized. But despite these caveats, proofs of age cannot simply be dismissed. Many are not obviously conventional in their contents; and even in certain apparently fictitious documents, care was taken to provide some accurate information. [source] The Effect of Vocabulary Size on Toddlers' Receptiveness to Unexpected Testimony About Category MembershipINFANCY, Issue 2 2007Vikram K. Jaswal Children must be willing to accept some of what they hear "on faith," even when that testimony conflicts with their own expectations. The study reported here investigated the relation among vocabulary size, object recognition, and 24-month-olds' (N = 40) willingness to accept potentially surprising testimony about the category to which an object belongs. Results showed that children with larger vocabularies were better able to recognize atypical exemplars of familiar categories than children with smaller vocabularies. However, they were also most likely to accept unexpected testimony that an object that looked like a member of one familiar category was actually a member of another. These results indicate that 24-month-olds trust classifications provided by adult labeling patterns even when they conflict with the classifications children generate on their own. [source] Juror Beliefs About Police Interrogations, False Confessions, and Expert TestimonyJOURNAL OF EMPIRICAL LEGAL STUDIES, Issue 2 2010Mark Costanzo Although there has been a rapid expansion in research on police interrogations and false confessions, little is known about the beliefs of potential jurors as to these issues. In collaboration with a trial research firm, we recruited 461 jury-eligible men and women who matched the demographic characteristics of jury pools in several states. Surrogate jurors responded to questions and statements in five areas: likely rates of false confessions for different crimes, the ability to discern true from false confessions, beliefs about false confessions, beliefs about permissible interrogation tactics, and beliefs about expert testimony on police interrogations. Results indicated that jurors believed that police interrogators are better than ordinary people at identifying lies and that this ability improves with experience. Jurors believed that they would be able to differentiate a true confession from a false confession by watching a videotape, but were less confident about making such a differentiation from an audio recording. A large majority of the sample reported that it would be helpful to hear expert testimony about interrogation techniques and reasons why a defendant might falsely confess to a crime. There were no significant gender differences. Compared to whites, nonwhite jurors had significantly less confidence in the abilities of the police and gave significantly higher estimates of false confession rates. Results are discussed in light of prior research and implications for jury decision making and expert testimony. [source] Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners' Experiences Providing Expert Witness Court TestimonyJOURNAL OF FORENSIC NURSING, Issue 1 2007Rebecca Campbell Nurses from a national random sample of SANE programs were interviewed about their most recent experience providing expert witness court testimony (N = 110). Forty-three percent of the SANEs characterized this experience "fine" with no difficulties, but 58% mentioned that they had encountered problems. Challenges they faced while testifying are explored in depth and implications for forensic nursing practice are discussed. [source] Reported Speech and Other Kinds of TestimonyJOURNAL OF HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 3 2000Megan Vaughan This paper addresses the politics and practices of history and memory through an examination of the historiography of Malawi with reference to the literature on slavery. In the late 1970s, an oral historical research project in Malawi set out to ,uncover' the pre-colonial history of part of the Southern Region. Informed by new methods for oral historical research and by the post-colonial context, the testimonies collected were framed by a number of preconceptions and assumptions, particularly those related to the nature of ethnic identity. The paper analyses this framing and the nature of the texts produced. It goes on to examine briefly other forms of historical memory, and the question of ,forgetting'. [source] English Law's Epistemology of Expert TestimonyJOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY, Issue 4 2006Tony Ward The decision whether to believe an expert witness raises difficult epistemological and ethical questions for a lay juror or judge. This article examines the English courts' approach to these questions in the light of a series of cases which endorse the test of admissibility formulated in the Australian case o/R v. Bonython. It argues that, if interpreted more rigorously than it generally has been to date, Bonython could provide the framework for an approach which avoids the pitfalls of either a ,scientistic' or a ,constructivist' epistemology of expert testimony. Such an approach needs to distinguish between different types of expertise and the differing degrees of deference that they call for on the part of a lay fact-finder. [source] Testimony: from sinner to voice of experienceJOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC & MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 4 2006S. McNEIL rmn bsc [source] Denominational Difference in Quaker Relief Work During the Spanish Civil War: The Operation of Corporate Concern and Liberal TheologiesJOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY, Issue 2 2000Farah MendlesohnArticle first published online: 19 DEC 200 The denominational differences between American and British relief workers in the Spanish Civil War are not immediately obvious, and cannot be identified by simple reference to the ideologies of the societies with which they claimed allegiance. This is both because orthodox American Quakerism and the theology of the London Yearly Meeting were very similar in the first half of the twentieth century, and because, when we attempt to compare the two groups, we are not comparing like with like. Those who worked for the (British) Friends Service Council (FSC) , and they came from a number of countries , were representing the witness of the London Society of Friends. Those who worked for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) were representing only the theology of that committee. In the 1920s the denominational identities of the American Quakers were beginning to settle into patterns which we recognize in the twentieth century. As part of this settlement American Quakers tentatively agreed to cooperate in matters of relief, a cooperation which produced the AFSC. However, in order to walk the precarious tightrope of interdenominational tension, the AFSC was forced to develop its own independent identity and its own distinctive character. While the AFSC is not a denomination in the usual sense of the word, it is possible to see it as possessing its own culture and theologies. It has a cohesiveness that allows us to compare practice and belief with that of the FSC where it is not possible to make a comparison between American and British workers in this context , in part, because very few of the "British" in Spain were actually British , nor to compare the British and American Societies. This paper will attempt, through focusing on the place of the Peace Testimony in the relief work in which the two sets of Friends were engaged, to indicate the differences of theology and practice displayed by the two "denominations." However, this paper should be recognized as part of a larger and longer work engaged in considering the role played by the Testimony of Social Justice in the working out of the Quaker Peace Witness in the middle years of the twentieth century. [source] Medical Evidence and Expert Testimony in Child Sexual AbuseJUVENILE AND FAMILY COURT JOURNAL, Issue 1 2006LORI D. FRASIER ABSTRACT Expert medical testimony in child sexual abuse cases can be critical to the outcome of a legal case. This article will review the development of the medical knowledge and clinical expertise in child sexual abuse. Since the passage of mandatory child abuse reporting laws, the forensic medical examination of a child for evidence of sexual abuse has become standard. Until recently, many myths regarding female genital anatomy existed but were based primarily on dogma and lack of empirical research. Over the past 25 years, many research studies and accumulating clinical evidence have expanded medical knowledge and debunked old myths. Physical evidence, even in cases of alleged genital or anal penetration is rare. Sexually transmitted infections are also uncommon and often require medical interpretation as to their significance in a prepubertal child. Specialized medical knowledge, training, and clinical expertise have developed in order to evaluate children presenting with allegations of sexual abuse. Such medical expertise provides invaluable service to courts. We review criteria for evaluating such expertise in light of current medical practice. [source] Jurors'Evaluations of Expert Testimony: Judging the Messenger and the MessageLAW & SOCIAL INQUIRY, Issue 2 2003Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovi Jurors are laypersons with no specific expert knowledge, yet they are routinely placed in situations in which they need to critically evaluate complex expert testimony. This paper examines jurors'reactions to experts who testify in civil trials and the factors jurors identify as important to expert credibility. Based on in-depth qualitative analyses of interviews with 55 jurors in 7 civil trials, we develop a comprehensive model of the key factors jurors incorporate into the process of evaluating expert witnesses and their testimony. Contrary to the frequent criticism that jurors primarily evaluate expert evidence in terms of its subjective characteristics, the results of our study indicate that jurors consider both the messenger and the message in the course of evaluating the expert's credibility. [source] Ambiguous Responsibilities: Law and Conflicting Expert Testimony on the Abused Woman Who Shot Her Sleeping HusbandLAW & SOCIAL INQUIRY, Issue 2 2000Renée Römkens First page of article [source] William James, ,The World Of Sense' and Trust in TestimonyMIND & LANGUAGE, Issue 5 2008PAUL L. HARRIS However, young children also assert the existence of entities that they cannot ordinarily observe. For example, they assert the existence of germs and souls. The belief in the existence of such unobservable entities is likely to be based on children's broader trust in other people's testimony about objects and situations that they cannot directly observe for themselves. [source] Learning communities in remote retreat settingsNEW DIRECTIONS FOR ADULT & CONTINUING EDUCATION, Issue 95 2002Gretchen T. Bersch The formation of learning communities in remote retreat settings, specifically Yukon Island in Alaska, is the focus of this chapter. Testimony by learners and facilitators is included to enhance the discussion of the learning environment, the creation of community, and the learning process. [source] Between Autonomy and Authority: Kant on the Epistemic Status of TestimonyPHILOSOPHY AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2010JOSEPH SHIEBER First page of article [source] What is Wrong With Moral Testimony?PHILOSOPHY AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Issue 3 2007ROBERT HOPKINS Is it legitimate to acquire one's moral beliefs on the testimony of others? The pessimist about moral testimony says not. But what is the source of the difficulty? Here pessimists have a choice. On the Unavailability view, moral testimony never makes knowledge available to the recipient. On Unusability accounts, although moral testimony can make knowledge available, some further norm renders it illegitimate to make use of the knowledge thus offered. I suggest that Unusability accounts provide the strongest form of pessimist view. I consider and reject five Unavailability accounts. I then argue that any such view will fail. But what is the norm rendering moral testimonial knowledge unusable? I suggest it lies in the requirement that we grasp for ourselves the moral reasons behind a moral view. This demand is one testimony cannot meet, and that claim holds whatever account we offer of the epistemology of testimony. However, while appeal to this requirement forms the most plausible pessimist view, it is another question whether pessimism is correct. [source] Take If from Me: The Epistemological Status of TestimonyPHILOSOPHY AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2002CATHERINEZ. Testimony consists in imparting information without supplying evidence or argument to back one's claims. To what extent does testimony convey epistemic warrant? C. J. A. Coady argues, on Davidsonian grounds, that (1) most testimony is true, hence (2) most testimony supplies warrant sufficient for knowledge. I appeal to Grice's maxims to undermine Coady's argument and to show that the matter is more complicated and context-sensitive than is standardly rocognized. Informative exchanges take place within networks of shared, tacit assumptions that affect the scope and strength of our claims, and the level of warrant required for their responsible assertion. The maxims explain why different levels of warrant are transferred in different contexts. [source] Testimony after Catastrophe: Narrating the Traumas of Political Violence , By Stevan WeinePOLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2008Francis A. Beer First page of article [source] Expert Testimony by Ethicists: What Should be the Norm?THE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 2 2005Edward J. Imwinkelried First page of article [source] Two Courts Rule Against Admissibility of TestimonyTHE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 2001Giles R. Scofield No abstract is available for this article. [source] Expert Testimony by Persons Trained in Ethical Reasoning: The Case of Andrew SawatzkyTHE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 3 2000Françoise Baylis First page of article [source] Learning from Words: Testimony as a Source of Knowledge , Jennifer LackeyTHE PHILOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY, Issue 237 2009Christoph Kelp No abstract is available for this article. [source] Poetics of Memory: In Defence of Literary Experimentation with Holocaust Survivor TestimonyANTHROPOLOGY & HUMANISM, Issue 1 2010Frances Rapport SUMMARY This article defends literary experimentation through poetics, suggesting it is both valid and powerful for re-presenting social data. The article concentrates on methodological debates surrounding the use of poetics in social science studies, contextualizing the theoretical with exemplars taken from a study of Holocaust survivors' life stories that aimed to clarify whether notions of health and well-being were in evidence in survivor testimony. In so doing, the article raises an interesting question: "What happens when a poet and a qualitative health researcher work on the same sections of transcribed text?" The article argues for the value of poetics as a working method with oral histories of this kind, suggesting its major strength is to uphold processes of personal transformation via layers of differently mediated dialogue: between participant and researcher, researcher and reader, and the like. The article concludes with a discussion of how poetics might be useful to support others' research studies. [source] Children's Testimony: A Handbook of Psychological Research and Forensic PracticeCHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 1 2003Helen Westcott No abstract is available for this article. [source] Cognitive Development, Culture, and Conversation: Comments on Harris and Koenig's "Truth in Testimony: How Children Learn about Science and Religion"CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2006Maureen A. Callanan Harris and Koenig make a compelling case for the importance of adult "testimony" and its influence on children's developing conceptions of topics in science and religion. This commentary considers how their analysis relates to constructivist and sociocultural theories and discusses several ways in which Harris and Koenig's arguments help to debunk some prevalent assumptions about research on the social context of cognitive development. Finally, a number of additional issues are raised for debate and discussion, and some critiques and suggestions for future research are discussed. The issues discussed by Harris and Koenig are crucial if we are to take seriously the importance of culture in cognitive development. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||