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Science at the Bar : Law, Science, and Technology in America / Sheila Jasanoff.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextSeries: Twentieth Century Fund Books/Reports/StudiesPublisher: Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2009]Copyright date: 1995Description: 1 online resource (303 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780674793026
  • 9780674039124
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 344.73095
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- 1 The Intersections of Science and Law -- 2 Changing Knowledge, Changing Rules -- 3 The Law's Construction of Expertise -- 4 The Technical Discourse of Government -- 5 Law in the Republic of Science -- 6 Toxic Torts and the Politics of Causation -- 7 Legal Encounters with Genetic Engineering -- 8 Family Affairs -- 9 Definitions of Life and Death -- 10 Toward a More Reflective Alliance -- Notes -- Index
Summary: Issues spawned by the headlong pace of developments in science and technology fill the courts. How should we deal with frozen embryos and leaky implants, dangerous chemicals, DNA fingerprints, and genetically engineered animals? The realm of the law, to which beleaguered people look for answers, is sometimes at a loss—constrained by its own assumptions and practices, Sheila Jasanoff suggests. This book exposes American law’s long-standing involvement in constructing, propagating, and perpetuating a variety of myths about science and technology.Science at the Bar is the first book to examine in detail how two powerful American institutions—both seekers after truth—interact with each other. Looking at cases involving product liability, medical malpractice, toxic torts, genetic engineering, and life and death, Jasanoff argues that the courts do not simply depend on scientific findings for guidance—they actually influence the production of science and technology at many different levels. Research is conducted and interpreted to answer legal questions. Experts are selected to be credible on the witness stand. Products are redesigned to reduce the risk of lawsuits. At the same time the courts emerge here as democratizing agents in disputes over the control and deployment of new technologies, advancing and sustaining a public dialogue about the limits of expertise. Jasanoff shows how positivistic views of science and the law often prevent courts from realizing their full potential as centers for a progressive critique of science and technology.With its lucid analysis of both scientific and legal modes of reasoning, and its recommendations for scholars and policymakers, this book will be an indispensable resource for anyone who hopes to understand the changing configurations of science, technology, and the law in our litigious society.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780674039124

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- 1 The Intersections of Science and Law -- 2 Changing Knowledge, Changing Rules -- 3 The Law's Construction of Expertise -- 4 The Technical Discourse of Government -- 5 Law in the Republic of Science -- 6 Toxic Torts and the Politics of Causation -- 7 Legal Encounters with Genetic Engineering -- 8 Family Affairs -- 9 Definitions of Life and Death -- 10 Toward a More Reflective Alliance -- Notes -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Issues spawned by the headlong pace of developments in science and technology fill the courts. How should we deal with frozen embryos and leaky implants, dangerous chemicals, DNA fingerprints, and genetically engineered animals? The realm of the law, to which beleaguered people look for answers, is sometimes at a loss—constrained by its own assumptions and practices, Sheila Jasanoff suggests. This book exposes American law’s long-standing involvement in constructing, propagating, and perpetuating a variety of myths about science and technology.Science at the Bar is the first book to examine in detail how two powerful American institutions—both seekers after truth—interact with each other. Looking at cases involving product liability, medical malpractice, toxic torts, genetic engineering, and life and death, Jasanoff argues that the courts do not simply depend on scientific findings for guidance—they actually influence the production of science and technology at many different levels. Research is conducted and interpreted to answer legal questions. Experts are selected to be credible on the witness stand. Products are redesigned to reduce the risk of lawsuits. At the same time the courts emerge here as democratizing agents in disputes over the control and deployment of new technologies, advancing and sustaining a public dialogue about the limits of expertise. Jasanoff shows how positivistic views of science and the law often prevent courts from realizing their full potential as centers for a progressive critique of science and technology.With its lucid analysis of both scientific and legal modes of reasoning, and its recommendations for scholars and policymakers, this book will be an indispensable resource for anyone who hopes to understand the changing configurations of science, technology, and the law in our litigious society.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 19. Oct 2024)