Objective Brains, Prejudicial Images

Bibliographic Data

ID4516135
AuthorsJoseph Dumit (0000-0002-9709-4650, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume12
Issue1
Pages173-201
Publication date1999-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience in Context (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0269-8897 • E-ISSN: 1474-0664
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0269889700003355
OpenAlexW2085158886
LanguageEN
Citations received30
References cited24

The ArgumentIn this article I argue that brain images constructed with computerized tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET) are part of a category of "expert images" and are both visually persuasive and also particularly difficult to interpret and understand by non-experts. Following the innovative judicial analogy of "demonstrative evidence" traced by Jennifer Mnookin (1998), I show how brain images are more than mere illustrations when they enter popular culture and courtrooms. Attending to the role of experts in producing data in the form of images, in selecting extreme images for publication, and in testifying as to their relevance, I argue that there is an undue risk in courtrooms that brain images will not be seen as prejudiced, stylized representations of correlation, but rather as straightforward, objective photographs of, for example, madness

Analogy · Cognitive psychology · Demonstrative · Epistemology · Linguistics · Political science · Sociology · Stylized fact · Computer Science · Law · Law in Society and Culture · Medicine · Philosophy · Psychology

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