Talk: "What's it Like? Demonstrative Evidence of Subjective States"

Professor Neal Feigenson: "What's it Like? Demonstrative Evidence of Subjective States" (CHUM Lecture Series)

A man suffers tinnitus as a result of an accident. At trial, jurors don headphones to listen to a sound file, created by the plaintiff's audiologist after testing the man's hearing, which purports to let them hear the sounds that he hears. But tinnitus is inherently subjective. How can the court be assured that the exhibit faithfully recreates sounds that only the plaintiff can hear?

How does listening to it persuade jurors that they can know what it's like to have that experience, so that they may better gauge their award of damages for pain and suffering? As scientific knowledge and digital technologies become more sophisticated, judges and jurors are increasingly likely to encounter simulations offered as proof of this and other subjective states.

Focusing on the tinnitus case but also considering the broader perspective, Professor Feigenson discusses the extent to which clinical science, digital tools, rules of evidence, courtroom language and conduct, and cultural frames of reference enable legal actors to fashion objective fact out of subjective experience.

Russell House, 350 High St.