ABSTRACT

A popular principle in epistemology and the philosophy of science is the requirement of total evidence (RTE). This chapter shows that existing provisions and practices, both in the law and elsewhere in society, contravene "control" version of RTE (C-RTE). The Federal Rules of Evidence resulted from proposals by an Advisory Committee appointed by the Supreme Court, which were passed into law by Congress in 1975. A better understanding of the underlying rationale for the relevance rules can be gleaned from a theoretical reconstruction by a legal scholar, Richard Lempert. Social epistemics studies the veritistic properties of social practices, or institutional rules that directly or indirectly govern communication and doxastic decision. Although social epistemics could content itself with the separate evaluation of individual practices, it seems more advisable to address whole classes of practices. The piece of epistemic paternalism has been rationalized by appeal to the relatively poor opportunity of consumers to obtain accurate information themselves.