Brooklyn Law School Symposium, Friday March 2nd, 2007.

OVERVIEW:

Science and the legal system have been facing off for some time, with no end in sight. For example, every time a consumer sues a pharmaceutical company or a manufacturer for injuries, a complex mixture of scientific and legal constructs and values comes into play. How do you know that this product really caused this particular injury? What constitutes proof? How much information should we require before we can say that our best theory is good enough? Who should decide? What inferences should be drawn from a lack of information?

Since the United States Supreme Court's 1993 decision in Daubert v. Dow Merrill Pharmaceuticals Corp., numerous complex questions have been raised concerning the law's treatment of scientific evidence. In Daubert, the Court held that experts could not testify unless they relied on reliable and relevant data, and instructed the courts to look at such factors as whether the expert's theory can be tested; whether the underlying studies were published and subjected to peer review; whether there are known rates of error; whether the data are sufficient; whether the methods used are generally accepted in the field; and whether they have been reliably applied in the particular case.

This symposium will consider if and how this inquiry relates to "truth" and whose view of the truth should prevail. The participants come from a host of fields, including philosophy, sociology, history, epidemiology, psychology, and law. They will explore how different disciplines conceptualize truth, and to what extent their conceptualizations incorporate such goals as justice and/or better public health.

Brooklyn Law School professors Margaret A. Berger, Suzanne J. & Norman Miles Professor of Law, and Lawrence M. Solan, Don Forchelli Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, organized this symposium.

PROGRAM:

(Panel I) Truth in Science: First Principles
Moderator: Bailey H. Kuklin, Brooklyn Law School

Susan Haack, Department of Philosophy and School of Law, University of Miami
Douglas L. Weed, Division of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute (NIH)
Dennis M. Patterson, Rutgers School of Law - Camden

Roundtable Discussion: D. Michael Risinger, Seton Hall Law School

Luncheon Speaker: Tal Golan, Department of History, University of California, San Diego

(Panel II) Modeling Truth: What Can We Prove?
Moderator: Margaret A. Berger, Brooklyn Law School

Jennifer L. Mnookin, UCLA School of Law
Steven Goodman, Co-director, Epidemiology Doctoral Program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Richard Scheines, Department of Philosophy, Carnegie Mellon University
Discussant: Joshua Knobe, Department of Philosophy, University of North Carolina

(Panel III) The Discovery of Truth in Context
Moderator: Lawrence M. Solan, Brooklyn Law School

David Faigman, Law, University of California, Hastings
Richard B. Katskee, Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Frank C. Keil, Department of Psychology, Yale University
Discussant: Sam Glucksberg, Department of Psychology, Princeton University

Roundtable Discussion: Edward K. Cheng, Brooklyn Law School



Conference Organizers:

Margaret A. Berger
Lawrence M. Solan

Contact: Lawrence M. Solan
Brooklyn Law School