Conceptual Analysis: A Method for Understanding Information as Evidence, and Evidence as Information

Abstract

The utility of conceptual analysis for archival science is assessed by means of an exploratory evaluation in which the concept of evidence is analyzed. Usage of the term “evidence” in the philosophies of science, law, and history is briefly reviewed; candidates for necessary conditions of evidentiariness are identified and examined; and taxonomies are built of evidentiariness and of archival inference. Correspondences are shown to exist between the concepts of evidentiariness and relevance, and between the domains of archival science and social epistemology, thereby pointing in promising directions for further research. The tentative conclusion is reached that conceptual analysis may profitably be used to improve understanding of archival concepts.