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The Philosophy of Medicine Versus Medicine

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The Fragility of Philosophy of Medicine

Part of the book series: Philosophy and Medicine ((PHME,volume 147))

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Abstract

Literature on the philosophy of medicine is characterized by a thirst for generalities. Wittgenstein’s remarks on family resemblances are intended as a refutation of this essentialist view of the meaning of general words. Words in medicine are usually vague and lack precision. Sadegh-Zadeh introduced a theory of fuzzy sets; he defines diseases as a resemblance to a prototype since linguists interpreted Roschian prototypes as members of a category.

The fragility of armchair philosophy is frequent, and is due to the confusion between opinions or beliefs and evidence.

Don’t think look!

Wittgenstein

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. DG XII and DG V, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium

    Lucien Karhausen

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  1. Lucien Karhausen
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Karhausen, L. (2023). The Philosophy of Medicine Versus Medicine. In: The Fragility of Philosophy of Medicine. Philosophy and Medicine, vol 147. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41633-0_14

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