Author Description

No matter how irrefutable it may seem, evidence is often a matter of interpretation. Incomplete, inconclusive, imprecise, or vague, it is nonetheless the basis of myriad everyday conclusions and decisions. In this authoritative work, David Schum develops a general theory of evidence as it is understood and applied across a broad range of disciplines and practical undertakings. Synthesizing insights from law, philosophy, logic, probability, semiotics, artificial intelligence, psychology and history, Schum provides a detailed examination of the various properties and uses of evidence and the evaluative skills evidence requires. Along with the evidential subtleties of probabilistic reasoning, Schum also explores the processes by which evidence is generated or discovered and looks at the intellectual and practical underpinnings of probabilistic reasoning.