Black-Box Theory

Black-Box Theory

What does Black-Box Theory mean in American Law?

The definition of Black-Box Theory in the law of the United States, as defined by the lexicographer Arthur Leff in his legal dictionary is:

A mode of scientific description used in lieu of explanation which merely notes a repeated close association between phenomena without offering any description of the mechanism by which they are associated. Associating sunrise with the passage of time is a black box theory; knowledge of the rotation of the earth turns it into something else. In dealing with human activities, so little is firmly known about what goes on “inside” people, that most theories of personal and social behavior are mostly black-box. Since such theories do not pretend to know what variables are actually implicated in the association, e.g., between acts to be deterred and threatened punishments, they tend to be much more open to disappointingly poor prediction and manipulation. Law itself, of course, at least when seen as prescriptive command, is itself based upon black-box theories of behavior.


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