Science, medicine, and rationality

pp. 789-806

in: Kazem Sadegh-Zadeh, Handbook of analytic philosophy of medicine, Berlin, Springer, 2012

Abstract

In preceding chapters, we tacitly presumed that medicine is a science, adding in the last chapter the view that it is (i) a practical science and (ii) in transition to an engineering science. What was left out until now is to determine what it means to say that medicine is a science. What is science? In order for judgments (i) and (ii) above to be testable, this basic question requires some clarity.