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Philosophy of Medicine
What kind of knowledge is medical knowledge? Can medicine be explained scientifically? Is disease a scientific concept, or do explanations of disease depend on values? What is "evidence-based" medicine? Are advances in neuroscience bringing us closer to a scientific understanding of the mind?
The nature of medicine raises fundamental questions about explanation, causation, knowledge and ontology – questions that are central to philosophy as well as medicine. This book introduces the fundamental issues in philosophy of medicine for those coming to the subject for the first time, including:
*understanding the physician–patient relationship: the phenomenology of the medical encounter.
*Models and theories in biology and medicine: what role do theories play in medicine? Are they similar to scientific theories?
*Randomised controlled trials: can scientific experiments be replicated in clinical medicine? What are the philosophical criticisms levelled at RCTs?
*The concept of evidence in medical research: what do we mean by "evidence-based medicine"? Should all medicine be based on evidence?
*Causation in medicine.
*What do advances in neuroscience reveal about the relationship between mind and body?
*Defining health and disease: are explanations of disease objective or do they depend on values?
*Evolutionary medicine: what is the role of evolutionary biology in understanding medicine? Is it relevant?
Extensive use of empirical examples and case studies are included throughout, including debates about smoking and cancer, the use of placebos in randomised controlled trials, controversies about PSA testing and research into the causes of HIV. This is an indispensable introduction to those teaching philosophy of medicine and philosophy of science.
The nature of medicine raises fundamental questions about explanation, causation, knowledge and ontology – questions that are central to philosophy as well as medicine. This book introduces the fundamental issues in philosophy of medicine for those coming to the subject for the first time, including:
*understanding the physician–patient relationship: the phenomenology of the medical encounter.
*Models and theories in biology and medicine: what role do theories play in medicine? Are they similar to scientific theories?
*Randomised controlled trials: can scientific experiments be replicated in clinical medicine? What are the philosophical criticisms levelled at RCTs?
*The concept of evidence in medical research: what do we mean by "evidence-based medicine"? Should all medicine be based on evidence?
*Causation in medicine.
*What do advances in neuroscience reveal about the relationship between mind and body?
*Defining health and disease: are explanations of disease objective or do they depend on values?
*Evolutionary medicine: what is the role of evolutionary biology in understanding medicine? Is it relevant?
Extensive use of empirical examples and case studies are included throughout, including debates about smoking and cancer, the use of placebos in randomised controlled trials, controversies about PSA testing and research into the causes of HIV. This is an indispensable introduction to those teaching philosophy of medicine and philosophy of science.
- GenresPhilosophyMedicine
206 pages, Paperback
Published August 10, 2017
7 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
R. Paul Thompson
6 books1 followerR. Paul Thompson holds appointments as Professor in The Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and the Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto, Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 17, 2021
Philosophy of medicine is a recent discipline that deals with epistemological and metaphysical problems within health science. Medicine is a complex endeavor. However, philosophical problems involving ( causality, induction, observation, confirmation, ethics, and moral values)all are related to the methods used in medicine. In medicine, when we deal with patients we use many terms like ( disease, health, well-being..etc.) that affect our thinking and decisions in our daily practice without being aware of how problematic these terms are. So what is a disease? shall we treat only the symptoms or abnormal investigations? What is health? Is health only the absence of diseases? These questions seem to be simple, but when we try to define them and understand these definitions deeply they are value-laden. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as ‘A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity' Does this definition help us in the classification of certain conditions to be classified as a disease? What is well-being?! Some define disease as a normative, naturalist, or statistical classification, and questions about the nature of diseases are epistemological in nature.
There are many diseases that we know about risk factors, how to diagnose, and even treat, but we don’t know the exact cause, we call them multifactorial or idiopathic. Is it because of our ignorance? How does understanding “causality” will help us in scientific explanations as well as in medicine? This is a metaphysical question related to medicine. So through the analysis of these methods
medicine can evolve more and more.
My lecturers usually say that there is nothing 100% true in medicine, and maybe they are right, when we deal with patients, we are using probabilities for example; probable complications of the surgery, the probability that a benign mass will change to malignancy in the future, estimation of life expectancy, probability of specificity and sensitivity of investigations for diseases. When a doctor tells a patient about a complication of a drug, they should also inform them that these are probabilities and these complications may not 100% develop. Probability is extremely important not only in clinical reasoning but also in research and especially in RCT.
Scientists try to make theories that can encompass different related theories or sciences for example physicists are trying to make a new theory that unifies both quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity, which is called a theory of everything. In medicine, we are dealing with humans, at the same time different levels of reality of different sciences are involved from (physics, biochemistry, biology, physiology..to higher levels of social and moral values...etc.) There are many problems with unification, and it isn’t an easy task, whether we will develop a unified theory of medicine or not, every physician should use their knowledge in clinical reasoning based on all levels that are involved.
In the end, I think physicians should depend on science, philosophy, and ethics while treating patients. However, patients should be treated as Kant put it as an end in themselves, not as means to an end.
There are many diseases that we know about risk factors, how to diagnose, and even treat, but we don’t know the exact cause, we call them multifactorial or idiopathic. Is it because of our ignorance? How does understanding “causality” will help us in scientific explanations as well as in medicine? This is a metaphysical question related to medicine. So through the analysis of these methods
medicine can evolve more and more.
My lecturers usually say that there is nothing 100% true in medicine, and maybe they are right, when we deal with patients, we are using probabilities for example; probable complications of the surgery, the probability that a benign mass will change to malignancy in the future, estimation of life expectancy, probability of specificity and sensitivity of investigations for diseases. When a doctor tells a patient about a complication of a drug, they should also inform them that these are probabilities and these complications may not 100% develop. Probability is extremely important not only in clinical reasoning but also in research and especially in RCT.
Scientists try to make theories that can encompass different related theories or sciences for example physicists are trying to make a new theory that unifies both quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity, which is called a theory of everything. In medicine, we are dealing with humans, at the same time different levels of reality of different sciences are involved from (physics, biochemistry, biology, physiology..to higher levels of social and moral values...etc.) There are many problems with unification, and it isn’t an easy task, whether we will develop a unified theory of medicine or not, every physician should use their knowledge in clinical reasoning based on all levels that are involved.
In the end, I think physicians should depend on science, philosophy, and ethics while treating patients. However, patients should be treated as Kant put it as an end in themselves, not as means to an end.
August 14, 2020
Στο βιβλίο περιγράφει το πως τα συμπεράσματα στην ιατρική δεν είναι απόλυτα αιτιοκρατικά άλλα εξάγονται επαγωγικά και με πιθανοθεωρητικούς όρους επομένως θα πρέπει να τα αντιμετωπίζουμε όπως θα κάναμε στο άγνωστο (με τεχνικές βγαλμένες από την φιλοσοφία και την στατιστική)
Δύσκολο βιβλίο άλλα δίνει την θεωρητική βάση γιατί δεν πρέπει να αντιμετωπίζουμε την κάθε ιατρική συμβουλή ώς την απόλυτη αλήθεια που πρέπει να ακολουθούμε πιστά άλλα χρειάζεται κριτική σκέψη και ζύγιση της κατάστασης .
Δύσκολο βιβλίο άλλα δίνει την θεωρητική βάση γιατί δεν πρέπει να αντιμετωπίζουμε την κάθε ιατρική συμβουλή ώς την απόλυτη αλήθεια που πρέπει να ακολουθούμε πιστά άλλα χρειάζεται κριτική σκέψη και ζύγιση της κατάστασης .
August 28, 2023
کتاب خوبیه برای کسایی که فلسفه تحلیلی دوست دارن و همزمان میخوان تو این شاخه مطالعه کنن اما به شخصه برای من به بهترین بخش کتاب ۲ فصل اول بود.
نوع نزدیک شدن به درک مفاهیم توی پزشکی که هم دید عمومی نقادانه خیلی خوبی میتونه به خواننده بده و همزمان بنظرم از مفیدترین چیزهایی هست که یک پزشک از تفکر فلسفه روزمره میتونه برداره.
نوع نزدیک شدن به درک مفاهیم توی پزشکی که هم دید عمومی نقادانه خیلی خوبی میتونه به خواننده بده و همزمان بنظرم از مفیدترین چیزهایی هست که یک پزشک از تفکر فلسفه روزمره میتونه برداره.
October 1, 2024
Very thorough discussion of basic ontological concepts such as health and healing ... the underpinning notions of what medicine is in and how that can vary. Thought provoking -
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews