{"title":"模糊定义的实体:加强法医学基础的关键概念?","authors":"Lionel Brocard , David-Olivier Jaquet-Chiffelle","doi":"10.1016/j.forsciint.2024.112110","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>According to the Sydney Declaration, “Forensic science is [… an] endeavour to study traces […] through their detection, recognition, recovery, examination and interpretation to understand anomalous events of public interest (e.g., crimes, security incidents).” This science is focused on establishing the nature and relationships among entities related to events having a potential legal impact. Entities can be (groups of) persons, objects, activities and their corresponding sources, events and traces. Although uniqueness of an entity has been traditionally accepted as a principle of forensic science, this paper argues and illustrates that such uniqueness is illusory: Not only can an entity evolve spatially and temporally, but at any specific instant, it <em>differs from itself</em> according to the level of precision at which it is considered. Its characteristics vary based on when, how and by whom it is perceived. We introduce the concept of fuzzy entities - defined to formally include some essential uncertainty or imprecision. The essential impreciseness and subjectivity of an entity gives a new perspective that allows us to revisit Kirk's principle of individuality and to propose to replace it with a new principle of <em>fuzzy unicity</em>. We believe that this new perspective has the potential to strengthen forensic science foundations and bring closer its disciplines, which is an important step towards a harmonized forensic science.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":12341,"journal":{"name":"Forensic science international","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073824001919/pdfft?md5=23a9a81df80d864a6bff50e22462565e&pid=1-s2.0-S0379073824001919-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Fuzzy-defined entities: A key concept to strengthen forensic science foundations?\",\"authors\":\"Lionel Brocard , David-Olivier Jaquet-Chiffelle\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.forsciint.2024.112110\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><p>According to the Sydney Declaration, “Forensic science is [… an] endeavour to study traces […] through their detection, recognition, recovery, examination and interpretation to understand anomalous events of public interest (e.g., crimes, security incidents).” This science is focused on establishing the nature and relationships among entities related to events having a potential legal impact. Entities can be (groups of) persons, objects, activities and their corresponding sources, events and traces. Although uniqueness of an entity has been traditionally accepted as a principle of forensic science, this paper argues and illustrates that such uniqueness is illusory: Not only can an entity evolve spatially and temporally, but at any specific instant, it <em>differs from itself</em> according to the level of precision at which it is considered. Its characteristics vary based on when, how and by whom it is perceived. We introduce the concept of fuzzy entities - defined to formally include some essential uncertainty or imprecision. The essential impreciseness and subjectivity of an entity gives a new perspective that allows us to revisit Kirk's principle of individuality and to propose to replace it with a new principle of <em>fuzzy unicity</em>. We believe that this new perspective has the potential to strengthen forensic science foundations and bring closer its disciplines, which is an important step towards a harmonized forensic science.</p></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":12341,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Forensic science international\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":2.2000,\"publicationDate\":\"2024-06-16\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073824001919/pdfft?md5=23a9a81df80d864a6bff50e22462565e&pid=1-s2.0-S0379073824001919-main.pdf\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Forensic science international\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"3\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073824001919\",\"RegionNum\":3,\"RegionCategory\":\"医学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"MEDICINE, LEGAL\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Forensic science international","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073824001919","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MEDICINE, LEGAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
Fuzzy-defined entities: A key concept to strengthen forensic science foundations?
According to the Sydney Declaration, “Forensic science is [… an] endeavour to study traces […] through their detection, recognition, recovery, examination and interpretation to understand anomalous events of public interest (e.g., crimes, security incidents).” This science is focused on establishing the nature and relationships among entities related to events having a potential legal impact. Entities can be (groups of) persons, objects, activities and their corresponding sources, events and traces. Although uniqueness of an entity has been traditionally accepted as a principle of forensic science, this paper argues and illustrates that such uniqueness is illusory: Not only can an entity evolve spatially and temporally, but at any specific instant, it differs from itself according to the level of precision at which it is considered. Its characteristics vary based on when, how and by whom it is perceived. We introduce the concept of fuzzy entities - defined to formally include some essential uncertainty or imprecision. The essential impreciseness and subjectivity of an entity gives a new perspective that allows us to revisit Kirk's principle of individuality and to propose to replace it with a new principle of fuzzy unicity. We believe that this new perspective has the potential to strengthen forensic science foundations and bring closer its disciplines, which is an important step towards a harmonized forensic science.
期刊介绍:
Forensic Science International is the flagship journal in the prestigious Forensic Science International family, publishing the most innovative, cutting-edge, and influential contributions across the forensic sciences. Fields include: forensic pathology and histochemistry, chemistry, biochemistry and toxicology, biology, serology, odontology, psychiatry, anthropology, digital forensics, the physical sciences, firearms, and document examination, as well as investigations of value to public health in its broadest sense, and the important marginal area where science and medicine interact with the law.
The journal publishes:
Case Reports
Commentaries
Letters to the Editor
Original Research Papers (Regular Papers)
Rapid Communications
Review Articles
Technical Notes.