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Chapter 1 - Challenges to Medicine at the End of Its “Golden Age”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2024

Somogy Varga
Affiliation:
Aarhus Universitet, Denmark
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Summary

The chapter begins by probing skeptical criticism, with key contributors like Stegenga (2018) questioning our unwavering trust in contemporary medicine. Next, it delves into the criticism of overmedicalization (see Moynihan and Cassels 2005; Conrad 2007; Le Fanu 2012; Parens 2013), viewed as an inappropriate use of medical resources for sociopolitical issues. The chapter also investigates the criticism of objectification related to the quality of care, drawing from thinkers like Cassell (2004), Haque and Waytz (2012), and Topol (2019). Rounding out the chapter, utilizing insights from Popper (2000) and Haslanger (2018), it identifies these criticisms as both social and internal to the practice of medicine. It concludes that medicine is falling short of its own standards, thereby posing fundamental questions about its nature and purpose to be explored in the succeeding chapters.

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Chapter
Information
Science, Medicine, and the Aims of Inquiry
A Philosophical Analysis
, pp. 16 - 37
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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