Professor Jon Williamson, Department of Philosophy, has recently received a research grant from the Leverhulme Trust for his project ‘EBL+: new philosophical foundations for evidence-based law’.
Evidence-based law (EBL) is an emerging field that seeks to use the best evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of proposed laws and regulations. It can answer questions such as: is banning mobile phone use while driving an effective way to reduce accidents?
Proponents of EBL recognise the need to base judgements of effectiveness on diverse kinds of evidence. However, they currently lack a systematic account of which kinds of evidence to look for, and how best to integrate the evidence. The project will test whether a new philosophical theory of causal enquiry, Evidential Pluralism, can provide systematic foundations for EBL.
“The Philosophy Department at Kent has led the development of Evidential Pluralism over the last two decades and the theory has previously been fruitfully applied to the biomedical and social sciences, generating publications and impact that contributed to an excellent REF result for the department,” says Jon, “This project provides an exciting opportunity to take the approach in a new direction.”
The project forges a new collaboration with Professor Emilie Cloatre and Dr Luis Eslava (Kent Law School) and Rebecca Helm at the Evidence-Based Justice Lab at Exeter. Alexandra Trofimov (Kent Philosophy Department and Law School) is the Research Assistant for this project.