The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Medicine is a guide to areas of current activity and change, not only in philosophy of medicine, but also in medical science and practice. It asks questions that concern core problems for this discipline as well as metaphysical questions about the nature of health and truth in medicine, offering critical insights into the evolving landscape of medical thought. This handbook reflects a renewed awareness that medical traditions are culturally diverse and of the philosophical opportunities this creates. It presents important new work on the demarcation of medicine from rivals and the legitimacy of its claims to superiority, while offering a balanced perspective on both the strengths and limitations of biomedicine. The volume explores how to promote better medicine and critically examines the preference in public policy for treatment over prevention, providing nuanced insights into enhancing healthcare practices.
Social justice has emerged in contemporary philosophy of medicine as a major concern, and the scholars who have contributed to this volume approach the complex relationship between medical knowledge and action from multiple angles. Medical contexts where race appears--or fails to appear--are covered, as well as concerns regarding gender and models of disability in medicine. Contributors also identify central problems in the uses of artificial intelligence and statistics in medicine, as well as the impact of recent attacks on medical experts from movements such as evidence-based medicine (EBM) and ""too much medicine"" (TMM). Every chapter in this book seeks to move in two dimensions: to change philosophy, and to change medicine, with many contributors advocating thoughtful reform. This illustrates the paradoxical value of the applied turn in philosophy, which is that, when properly executed, it produces better philosophy. The potential for philosophy of medicine to contribute to medicine is very clear in these chapters, but so is its potential to contribute to philosophy--which is at its best when it seeks to influence something other than itself.
1. The Uses of Philosophy of Medicine Alex Broadbent 2. African Philosophy of Medicine Mbih Jerome Tosam 3. Ayurveda and Philosophy Cristina Pecchia 4. Chinese Medicine and Philosophy Lisa Raphals 5. Hippocratic Medicine and Philosophy Michael Boylan 6. Philosophy of Medicine in the Islamic World Tommaso Alpina 7. Modern Scientific Medicine's Demarcation Problem Jonathan Fuller 8. Medicine, Pseudomedicine, and ""Folk Medicine"" Somogy Varga and Andrew Latham 9. Decolonizing Medicine Chadwin Harris 10. Medical Cosmopolitanism Elena Popa 11. Biomedical, Biopsychosocial, and Beyond Juliette Ferry-Danini 12. Progress in Medicine Saana Jukola 13. Prevention, Treatment, and Cost Stephen John 14. ""Too Much Medicine"" and the Bias to Act Jeremy Howick 15. Medicine and Meaning in Life Thaddeus Metz 16. Race in Medicine Michael Diamond-Hunter 17. Epistemic Injustice, Medicine, and Gender Eleanor Byrne and Marjolein de Boer 18. The Medical Model of Disability Jonas-Sébastien Beaudry 19. Vaccine Denialism Klemens Kappel 20. Medical Expertise Maya J. Goldenberg 21. Evidence in Medicine Bennett Holman and Doohyun Sung 22. Values in Medical Research S. Andrew Schroeder 23. Statistics and Persuasion in Medicine Barbara Osimani 24. Philosophical Issues in Medical Imaging Elisabetta Lalumera 25. Medical Artificial Intelligence Thomas Grote 26. Epidemiological Inferences Olaf Dammann 27. Fact, Value, and Disorder Rachel Cooper 28. The Metaphysics of Disease Benjamin Smart 29. Disease Externalism Shane Glackin 30. Truth in Medicine M. Cristina Amoretti 31. Nature and Construction in Psychiatry Dominic Murphy
Alex Broadbent is Professor of Philosophy of Science at Durham University and Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg. He is co-Director of the Centre for Philosophy of Epidemiology, Medicine, and Public Health at Durham University and the University of Johannesburg and founding Editor in Chief of the journal Philosophy of Medicine. He has special interests in epidemiology, causation, and law. His books include Philosophy of Epidemiology (2013) and Philosophy of Medicine (2019). With Sridhar Venkatapuram, he edited the Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Public Health (2023).
