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About the Author

Jimmy Alfonso Licon is a philosophy professor at Arizona State University working on ignorance, ethics, cooperation and God. Before that, he taught at University of Maryland, Georgetown, and Towson University. He loves classic rock and Western, movies, and combat sports. He lives with his wife, a lawyer, at the foot of the Superstition Mountains. He also abides.

In this episode, I sit down with Georgi Gardiner (Professor of Philosophy and Gender and Sexual Studies at Tulane University) to explore the strange and fascinating intersection of law, evidence, and epistemology. We discuss everything from hearsay rules and standards of proof to plea deals, rape kits, surveillance, and the role incentives play in legal fact-finding. Along the way, we ask a deeper philosophical question: is the legal system really aimed at truth, or is it balancing truth against broader social and political goals?

What I especially enjoyed about this conversation is that it shows how deeply philosophical ordinary legal concepts really are. Questions about testimony, credibility, justified belief, statistical evidence, and disagreement are questions and issues that shape real institutions with enormous consequences. Georgi is one of the sharpest legal epistemologists working today, and this discussion ranges from highly theoretical issues to concrete cases in criminal justice and evidence law.

Please like, share, comment, and subscribe. It helps grow the newsletter and podcast without a financial contribution on your part. Anything is very much appreciated. And thank you, as always, for reading and listening.

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