1st Edition

Philosophy of Medicine An Introduction

By R. Paul Thompson, Ross Upshur Copyright 2018
206 Pages
by Routledge

206 Pages
by Routledge

206 Pages
by Routledge

 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... Read more

List of Figures

List of Tables

Preface

Introduction

1. Philosophy of Medicine: Its Scope and Subject Matter

2. Defining Health and Disease

3. Theories and Models in Medicine

4. Materialism and Reductionism in Science and Medicine

5. Probability and Randomness

6. Causality and Induction

7. Randomised Controlled Trials and Study Design

8. Some Central Measures in Clinical Medicine

9. Reasoning in Clinical Practice: Prevention, Diagnosis, Therapy, Prognosis, Palliation and Rehabilitation

10. Medicine from First-Person Perspectives: Phenomenology, Narrative of Knowledge and Qualitative Approaches to Knowledge Creation and Use in Medicine

11. Neurosciences and Diseases of the Mind

12. The Varieties of Modern Medicine: Evolutionary Medicine, Evidence-based Medicine, Precision and Personalised Medicine, Alternative Medicines and Managing Epidemics

 

Bibliography

Index

Biography

R. 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.

Ross E. G. Upshur is a physician, and Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Cananda. He is also Head of the Division of Clinical Public Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Scientific Director, Bridgepoint Collaboratory for Research and Innovation and Assistant Director, Lunenfeld Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health Systems.

'This book provides a rigorous, yet accessible, introduction to philosophy of medicine that will be of great interest to both students and professionals, and to both philosophers and physicians.'

Robyn Bluhm, Michigan State University, USA

 

'Experienced clinicians will enjoy the clear and elegant exploration of medical decision making. Medical students will treasure the lucid explanation of the multiple approaches to weighing and communicating medical evidence, and students of philosophy will find this book fills a significant gap in the philosophy of science.'

Andrew D. Baines, University of Toronto, Canada