Document Type
Article
Abstract
Technology is so much more than a prosthetic. But how much more? And what else is it? In the legal realm, its role is not yet clear. Such a lack of elucidation becomes problematic, especially when technology has the ability to convert assumptions into facts, and it takes on a truth-making, rather than a mere truth-revealing mission. This Article argues that it is problematic to enable technology to stand in for reflective thinking, and calls attention to the fact that evidentiary rules enable technology to decide what can be proven, ergo what truth is. Technology is a fork in the road of the legal meaning making process. It may simultaneously obscure and reveal legal truth. Given this position in the process of negotiating the appearance of legal truth, this Article discusses technology from a determinist and phenomenological perspective, directing the reader’s gaze to what constitutes legal truth. Then, it guides it to a brief discussion of the role of technology within the evidentiary context of DNA sample testing, to embrace the view of “technology” as mediator of truth, closer to its Greek origins as techné: bringing-forth the truth, and similar to “the poiésis of the fine arts.”
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Repository Citation
Neacsu, Dana, Technology — Revealing or Framing the Truth? A Jurisprudential Debate, 60 Duq. L. Rev. 246 (2022).