The evidential foundations of probabilistic reasoning

From Holmes's analysis of footprints and tobacco ash to modern institutional DNA testing, evidence has formed the cornerstone of probabilistic reasoning, both in fiction and real life. Too often viewed as irrefutable, evidence, argues David Schum, is an interpretive science, refracted through the varying perspectives of subject specialty. Evaluating how evidence is discovered, arranged, and used is essential not only for drawing conclusions, but also for developing an analytical scheme that transcends the particular skew of individual disciplines. In the first textbook treatment of evidence as a science, Evidential Foundations of Probabilistic Reasoning examines inferences drawn from evidence that is incomplete, inconclusive, and often imprecise. Layer by layer, the book disassembles the process of gathering, organizing, and evaluating evidence, activities that ultimately affect what conclusions are drawn from evidence and how new evidence is discovered. The book also presents a balanced account of the probabilistic process of assessing the force, strength, or weight of evidence, an examination that considers the many current views on evaluating evidence. A subject of growing interest and study, the imaginative reasoning process behind the discovery or generation of new evidence and new hypotheses, is also described. Featuring over one hundred numerical examples to illustrate the workings of various probabilistic expressions, as well as lively graphics which illuminate many of the evidential and inferential issues discussed, this is an essential working reference to every facet of the science of evidence.