The Proof

Uses of Evidence in Law, Politics, and Everything Else

ISBN 9780674295568

Publication date: 05/01/2024

Winner of the Scribes Book Award

“Displays a level of intellectual honesty one rarely encounters these days…This is delightful stuff.”
—Barton Swaim, Wall Street Journal

“At a time when the concept of truth itself is in trouble, this lively and accessible account provides vivid and deep analysis of the practices addressing what is reliably true in law, science, history, and ordinary life. The Proof offers both timely and enduring insights.”
—Martha Minow, former Dean of Harvard Law School

“His essential argument is that in assessing evidence, we need, first of all, to recognize that evidence comes in degrees…and that probability, the likelihood that the evidence or testimony is accurate, matters.”
—Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Education

“I would make Proof one of a handful of books that all incoming law students should read…Essential and timely.”
—Emily R. D. Murphy, Law and Society Review

In the age of fake news, trust and truth are hard to come by. Blatantly and shamelessly, public figures deceive us by abusing what sounds like evidence. To help us navigate this polarized world awash in misinformation, preeminent legal theorist Frederick Schauer proposes a much-needed corrective.

How we know what we think we know is largely a matter of how we weigh the evidence. But evidence is no simple thing. Law, science, public and private decision making—all rely on different standards of evidence. From vaccine and food safety to claims of election-fraud, the reliability of experts and eyewitnesses to climate science, The Proof develops fresh insights into the challenge of reaching the truth. Schauer reveals how to reason more effectively in everyday life, shows why people often reason poorly, and makes the case that evidence is not just a matter of legal rules, it is the cornerstone of judgment.

Praise

Schauer displays a level of intellectual honesty one rarely encounters these days…This is delightful stuff, all the more so coming from an author whose political sympathies clearly lie far from the Trump family. Chapters on the state of criminology and the nature of lying are similarly engaging.

—Barton Swaim, Wall Street Journal
[Schauer’s] essential argument is that in assessing evidence, we need, first of all, to recognize that evidence comes in degrees (from weak to strong, from extraneous to relevant) and that probability, the likelihood that the evidence or testimony is accurate, matters…[He] has fascinating things to say about the reliability of eyewitnesses, hearsay and lie detectors, the efficacy of honor codes and courtroom oath taking, and the trustworthiness of letters of recommendation.

—Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Education
I would make Proof one of a handful of books that all incoming law students should read…Essential and timely.

—Emily R. D. Murphy, Law and Society Review
Schauer is inviting us to distrust ourselves, to look for an external ground in our evidence assessments, one that reaches out for empirical evidence and verifiable inferences, instead of feelings, senses, perception, and intuition…The elucidation of this value (of distrusting ourselves) is a great achievement…[A] fascinating book.

—Thomas Bustamante, Jotwell
At a time when the concept of truth itself is in trouble, this lively and accessible account provides vivid and deep analysis of the practices addressing what is reliably true in law, science, history, and ordinary life. Schauer's The Proof integrates knowledge of legal doctrine, social science studies, philosophy, and history and offers both timely and enduring insights.

—Martha Minow, former Dean of Harvard Law School and author of When Should Law Forgive?
The Proof is an engaging tour of a range of knotty problems relating to evidence and reasoned inference. Fred Schauer shares a wealth of insights he has developed over several decades of teaching and writing about evidence law and the nature of proof. A pleasure to read.

—David Alan Sklansky, author of A Pattern of Violence
A thoroughly enjoyable and accessible book on how the insights of evidence law can help all of us make better decisions in our everyday lives. A much-needed guide in a confusing world awash in information and misinformation. The Proof is sure to become a classic!

—Edward K. Cheng, Vanderbilt Law School
With his uncanny ability to blend erudition and accessibility, Fred Schauer unpacks how to think about proof—what people tell us, what we see, what the experts say—in everyday life. An extraordinarily readable book with breathtaking range and clarity, The Proof is an indispensable guide for those who seek to thoughtfully navigate the world. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

—Kimberly Kessler Ferzan, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
If you care about evidence, the search for the truth, about what we know and how we know it, you have a lot to learn from this timely and masterful book.

—Lee C. Bollinger, President and Seth Low Professor of the University, Columbia University
Assessing evidence: that is the essence of judgment. Schauer’s The Proof imparts the disturbing lesson that we, be we individuals or organizations, are poor judges. Fortunately, this book wields tools from law, psychology, and statistics, plus an array of historic examples and contemporary accounts, to show how we can dramatically improve as assessors. Even better, it does so with wit.

—Richard Zeckhauser, Frank P. Ramsey Professor of Political Economy, Harvard University

Author

Frederick Schauer is the David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Virginia and the author of Free Speech: A Philosophical Enquiry; Playing by the Rules; Profiles, Probabilities, and Stereotypes; Thinking Like a Lawyer; and The Force of Law. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, was the Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at Harvard University for twenty years, and was a founding editor of the journal Legal Theory.