Forensic Science Discplines, Truth and Collective Knowledge: A Framework for Reforming Knowledge Production in Forensic Science

This thesis provides a framework for the reform of knowledge production in forensic science. The perspective offered is a collective epistemological analysis of forensic science disciplines as plural epistemic agents. I argue that forensic disciplines provide a valuable source of epistemic reform due to disciplines acting as influential socio-epistemic forces within the current structure of forensic science. My proposal is that forensic science disciplines ought to move from a joint commitment model of collective knowledge, towards one centred on a model of distributed cognition. I begin by identifying tension between the ideal of forensic science as a provider of truth and the reality of forensic science today. In response, I suggest that the fostering of forensic experts who engage in a critical discourse is a fundamental requirement of any serious reform of forensic science. In this thesis I draw together a number of different concerns within the literature, including the desirability of certain epistemic values, the notion of ‘model forensic scientists’, and the promotion of scientific knowledge as ‘social knowledge’. I then develop a characterisation of forensic science disciplines as plural subjects with collective knowledge. I argue that currently forensic disciplines can be conceived as most closely aligning with a joint commitment model of collective knowledge, the consequence of which is the creation of barriers to the development of model forensic scientists. As a path to reform, I claim that forensic disciplines should be structured to better reflect a distributed cognition model of group knowledge. With a focus on holistic aim development and the division of labour via discrete task allocation, a distributed model encourages desirable epistemic values and the development of ‘model forensic scientists’, crucial to positive reform within a ‘truth-orientated’ account of forensic science.