Handbook of Analytic Philosophy of Medicine

Medical practice is practiced morality, and clinical research belongs to normative ethics. The present book elucidates and advances this thesis by: 1. analyzing the structure of medical language, knowledge, and theories; 2. inquiring into the foundations of the clinical encounter; 3. introducing the logic and methodology of clinical decision-making; 4. suggesting comprehensive theories of organism, life, and psyche; of health, illness, and disease; of etiology, diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, and therapy; and 5. investigating the moral and metaphysical issues central to medical practice and research.

List of contents

Part I The Language of Medicine ___________________________________________________________________________ 1. The Epistemic Impact of Medical Language 1.0. Introduction 1.1 Types of Knowledge 1.2. Propositional Knowledge 1.3. Propositions and Facts 1.4. Sentences and Statements 1.5. Medical Concepts 1.6. How to Care About Our Medical Concepts? 1.7. Summary 2. The Syntax and Semantics of Medical Language 2.0. Introduction 2.1. Medical Language Is an Extended Natural Language 2.2. What a Medical Term Means 2.3. Ambiguity 2.4. Vagueness 2.4.1. The Nature of Vagueness 2.4.2. The Sorites Paradox 2.4.3. Varieties of Vagueness 2.5. Clarity and Precision 2.6. Semantic Nihilism 2.7. Summary 3. The Pragmatics of Medical Language 3.0. Introduction 3.1. The So-Called Language Games 3.2. Assertion, Acceptance, and Denial 3.3. Speech Acts in Medicine 3.4. Summary 4. Varieties of Medical Concepts 4.0. Introduction 4.1. Individual, Qualitative, Comparative, and Quantitative Concepts 4.1.1. Individual Concepts 4.1.2. Qualitative Concepts 4.1.3. Comparative Concepts 4.1.4. Quantitative Concepts 4.2. Dispositional Terms in Medicine 4.3. Linguistic and Numerical Variables in Medicine 4.4. Non-Classical versus Classical Concepts 4.5. Summary 5. Fundamentals of Medical Concept Formation 5.0. Introduction 5.1. What a Definition Is 5.2. What Role a Definition Plays 5.3. Methods of Definition 5.3.1. Explicit Definition 5.3.2. Conditional Definition 5.3.3. Operational Definition 5.3.4. Definition by Cases 5.3.5. Recursive Definition 5.3.6. Set-Theoretical Definition 5.3.7. Ostensive Definition 5.4. What an Explication Is 5.4.1. What: Quod vs. Quid 5.4.2. Is 5.5. Summary ___________________________________________________________________________ Part II Medical Praxiology ___________________________________________________________________________ 6. The Patient 6.0. Introduction 6.1. The Suffering Individual 6.2. The Bio-Psycho-Social Agent 6.2.0. Introduction 6.2.1. The Living Body 6.2.2. The Psyche 6.2.3. The Social Agent 6.2.4. Summary 6.3. Health, Illness, and Disease 6.3.0. Introduction 6.3.1. Disease 6.3.2. Health 6.3.3. Illness 6.3.4. Health, Illness, and Disease Violate Classical Logic 6.3.5. Summary 6.4. Systems of Disease 6.4.0. Introduction 6.4.1. Symptomatology 6.4.2. Nosological Systems 6.4.3. Pathology versus Nosology 6.4.4. Nosological Spaces 6.4.5. Summary 6.5. Etiology 6.5.0. Introduction 6.5.1. Cause and Causation 6.5.2. Deterministic Etiology 6.5.3. Probabilistic Etiology 6.5.4. Fuzzy Etiology 6.5.5. Summary 7. The Physician 8. Clinical Practice 8.0. Introduction 8.1. The Clinical Encounter 8.1.0. Introduction 8.1.1. The Patient Elroy Fox 8.1.2. Branching Clinical Questionnaires 8.1.3. Clinical Paths 8.1.4. The Clinical Process 8.1.5. Summary 8.2. Anamnesis and Diagnosis 8.2.0. Introduction 8.2.1. The Clinical Goal 8.2.2. The Logical Structure of Medical Knowledge 8.2.3. Action Indication and Contra-Indication 8.2.4. Differential Indication 8.2.5. The Computability of Differential Indication 8.2.6. The Logical Structure of Diagnosis 8.2.7. The Syntax of Diagnosis 8.2.8. The Semantics of Diagnosis 8.2.9. The Pragmatics of Diagnosis 8.2.10. The Methodology of Diagnostics 8.2.11. The Logic of Diagnostics 8.2.12. The Epistemology of Diagnostics 8.2.13. The Relativity of Diagnosis 8.2.14. Summary 8.3. Prognosis 8.3.0. Introduction 8.3.1. The Clinical Role of Prognosis 8.3.2. The Structure of Prognosis 8.3.3. The Uncertainty of Prognosis 8.3.4. Prognosis Is a Social Act 8.3.5. Summary 8.4. Therapy 8.4.0. Introduction 8.4.1. Therapeutic Decisions 8.4.2. Expected Value Therapeutic Decision-Making 8.4.3. Treatment Threshold Probability 8.4.4. Treatments Are Social Acts 8.4.5. Therapeutic Efficacy 8.4.6. Summary 8.5. Prevention 8.5.0. Introduction 8.5.1. What Is a Risk Factor? 8.5.2. Prevention Is Teleological Practice 8.5.3. Summary ___________________________________________________________________________ Part III Medical Epistemology ____

About the author

Kazem Sadegh-Zadeh, born 1942, is an analytic philosopher of medicine. He studied medicine and philosophy at the German universities of Münster, Berlin, and Göttingen with Internship and residency 1967 - 1971, assistant professor 1972 - 1982, full professor of philosophy of medicine at the University of Münster 1982 - 2004. Sadegh-Zadeh was born in Tabriz, Iran. He has made significant contributions to the analytic philosophy of medicine. His international recognition came especially through his work on clinical logic and methodology, including fuzzy logic and artificial intelligence in medicine. He is the founding editor of the international journals Metamed, founded in 1977.

Product details

• Authors: Kazem Sadegh - Zadeh, Kazem Sadegh-Zadeh
• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.10.2011
• EAN: 9789400722590
• ISBN: 978-94-0-072259-0
• No. of pages: 1125
• Weight: 1736 g
• Illustrations: 50 Tabellen
• Series: Philosophy and Medicine; Philosophy and Medicine
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > Miscellaneous