International Conference on Facts and Evidence
A Dialogue Between Philosophy and Law
May 28-29, 2016 Shanghai, China
Call for Papers
The Collaborative Innovation Center of Judicial Civilization (CICJC) of China and East China Normal University are proud to co-host the International Conference on Facts and Evidence: A Dialogue between Philosophy and Law (ICFE), to be held at East China Normal University in Shanghai, May 28-29, 2016. The ICFE proposes to explore the understanding of evidence from an interconnected perspective of philosophy and law. We cordially invite members of the international communities of philosophy and law interested in issues relating to evidence to submit papers and participate in the conference.
I. Conference Themes
We invite papers relating but not limited to the following themes:
• Facts and evidence in the context of philosophical epistemology
• Facts and evidence in the context of philosophy of science
• Facts and evidence in judicial process
• Evidence law as epistemology in court trials
II. Preliminary Agenda
May 28, 2016, Keynote Speeches:
1. Philosophy scholar(s) from China
2. Philosophy scholar(s) from outside China
3. Legal scholar(s) from China
4. Legal scholar(s) from outside China
May 29, 2016, Panel Discussions:
1. Facts and evidence in the context of philosophical epistemology
2. Evidence law as epistemology in court trials
3. Facts and evidence in the context of philosophy of science
4. Facts and evidence in judicial process
III. Venue
East China Normal University (North Zhongshan Road Campus)
3663 North Zhongshan Road, Putuo
Shanghai 200062, China
IV. Submission Procedure and Relevant Issues
1. Language and format. All papers must be in English. There is no limit for the length of each paper. Citations must follow the Bluebook rules.
2. Deadline. Paper submission must be received by January 20, 2016. Abstracts (no more than 750 words) and papers should be submitted to the following email address:evid-conf@law.ecnu.edu.cn.
3. Peer review. All the submissions will be anonymously reviewed by the Conference Review Committee. The accepted papers will be announced by February 10, 2016 at the website of Collaborative Innovation Center of Judicial Civilization,http://www.cicjc.com.cn/zh. The accepted papers will be circulated to all the conference presenters in advance.
4. Offers for conference invitees. We will select 30 papers among all the submissions. The authors of the accepted papers will be invited to make presentations. We will provide each invitee a round-trip coach fare airplane ticket from the invitee’s place of residence to Shanghai and hotel accommodation. For invitees with residence in China, we will provide a round-trip coach fare airplane ticket or a round-trip train ticket from the invitee’s place of residence to Shanghai and hotel accommodation. All the accepted papers will be published collectively in book form.
V. Registration, Invitation & Entry Visa
1. Authors of the accepted papers must register online for conference attendance. Registration will be available online after February 10, 2016. Please use the following link to register online,http://icfe.cicjc.com.cn. The registration is free of charge.
2. Upon the announcement of the accepted papers, we will send invitation letters and visa support documents to the invitees.
VI. Organizing Committee
1. Co-Chairs of the Conference
Shijun Tong
Professor of Philosophy
East China Normal University, China
Baosheng Zhang
Professor of Law
CUPL Institute of Evidence Law and Forensic Science, China
Co-Director of CICJC
2. Secretariat
Chuanming Fan
Lecturer in Law
East China Normal University Department of Law, China
Tel: 86-13795307340
East China Normal University Department of Law
3663 North Zhongshan Road, Putuo
Shanghai 200062, China
Jing Cao
Lecturer in Law
CUPL Institute of Evidence Law and Forensic Science, China
Research Fellow of CICJC
Tel: 86-10-58908121
Fax: 86-10-58908031
China University of Political Science and Law
Institute of Evidence Law and Forensic Science
25 Xitucheng Road, Haidian
Beijing 100088, China
Secretariat Email:evid-conf@law.ecnu.edu.cn
VII. Conference Website
For more details of the Conference, please go to the following link,http://icfe.cicjc.com.cn.
Welcoming Remarks
Facts, which are characterized by, among other features, truthfulness, experience and narratability, are the logical starting point of evidence law. Evidence, as information relating to facts, is used to prove the possibility of an asserted fact. Trials begin with the determination of facts. Accurate determination of facts is the pre-condition of correct application of law and judicial justice. Evidence provides the necessary condition for fact-determination and the sole “bridge” connecting the objective facts and the cognitive subjects. Evidence law is a legal discipline focusing on how to determine facts by evidence, but the study of facts, evidence and determination of facts is an interdisciplinary undertaking in which legal scholars wish to receive inspiration from scholars of philosophy on their studies. This conference on “Facts and Evidence: A Dialogue Between Philosophy and Law” will surely start a trend in interdisciplinary exploration of the various issues relating to facts and evidence. We expect to see more interdisciplinary dialogues between law and other fields, such as history and law, psychology and law, linguistics and law, logic and law. We cordially extend invitation to fellow scholars in related disciplines. We look forward to your submissions and seeing you in Shanghai!
Baosheng Zhang
Professor of Law
Co-Director of the Collaborative Innovation Center of Judicial Civilization
Dean Emeritus of CUPL Institute of Evidence Law and Forensic Science
Conference Co-Chair
“Facts” and “evidence” are both philosophical and legal concepts. When Plato, in the voice of Socrates, made the classical distinction between “true belief” and “knowledge”, these two concepts are actually brought into an epistemological discussion with a history of more than two thousands of years together with the roles of “lawyer”, “jury” and “juror”. In our times, the well-documented philosophical discussions over the justificatory conditions of beliefs triggered by the “Gettier Problem”, may well contribute to the legal discussions on “facts” and “evidence”, and benefit in turn from the well-established discussions in the field of law on the questions concerned with the two concepts. The “theory of argumentation”, which more or less takes the judicial process as a basic model of argumentation, should probably search “downwardly” for more supports and inspirations from the legal reasoning studies involving concepts of “facts” and “evidence” after it has developed itself “upwardly” into communicative or discourse theories of society and politics. Whether discussions over these two issues are related more broadly to philosophical questions of reason, justice, trust, diversity, virtuality and so on in the contexts of the age of globalization, information and secularization, we can only expect that those who have deeply thought over these questions will give their judgments. Here I want only express the sincere hope that scholars interested in these questions will pay their attention to the conference we now start to prepare.
Shijun Tong
Professor of Philosophy
Chairman of the University Council of ECNU
Conference Co-Chair