The Role of Philosophy in Modern Medicine

Abstract

In this paper I argue that contrary to what some philosophers think, there exists a very close link between philosophy and medicine. From ancient Greece with Hippocrates to the modern era, philosophy has been at the basis of medicine. This is especially true of Western medicine which greatly depends on the philosophies of Bacon and Descartes. Although the two disciplines seem to pursue two disparate goals— philosophy being the quest for truth while medicine is the quest for health, they are in complementary ways striving for the enhancement of human wellbeing. While medicine seeks to fight diseases of the body like bacteria and viruses, philosophy seeks to fight the diseases of the mind like half-truths, prejudices, woolly judgments and uncritical conceptions of the world, health and disease, which have direct impact on health, and health delivery. Using substantive examples, I show that the practice of medicine raises questions beyond the scope of medicine, questions to which only philosophy may provide answers because they fall within its scope. Daily, physicians are confronted with questions in such philosophical areas like metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and logic. Moreover, I argue that one of the weaknesses of modern Western medicine is its over-dependence on the Cartesian ontology which considers human bodies as machines which need to be studied using scientific logic, and the physician as a technician whose job is to repair dysfunctioned bodies. This modern metaphysical outlook resulted in the neglect of the patient as a subjective being. This deficiency cannot be overcome without reviewing the Cartesian reductionist worldview which is at its foundation.

Share and Cite:

Tosam, M. (2014). The Role of Philosophy in Modern Medicine. Open Journal of Philosophy, 4, 75-84. doi: 10.4236/ojpp.2014.41011.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1] Bacon, F. (1803). The works of Francis bacon, baron of Verulam, viscount St Alban, and lord high chancellor of England. London: H. Bryer.
[2] Bacon, F. (1874). The advancement of learning. In J. Spedding, R. L. Ellis, & D. D. Heath (Eds.), The philosophical works of Francis Bacon (Vol. III). London: Longman.
[3] Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2009). Principles of biomedical ethics (6th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
[4] Beauchamp, T. L. (2008). The principle of beneficence in applied ethics.
http://plato.standford.edu/entries/principle-beneficence
[5] Caplan, A. (1992). Does the philosophy of medicine exist? Theoretical Medicine, 13, 67-77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00489220
[6] Cassell, E. J. (2004). The nature of suffering and the goals of medicine. New York: Oxford University Press.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195156164.001.0001
[7] Clifton-Soderstrom, M. (2003). Levinas and the patient as other: The ethical foundation of medicine. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 28, 4. http://dx.doi.org/10.1076/jmep.28.4.447.15969
[8] Descartes, R. (1968). Discourse on method and meditations. Translated by F. E. Sutcliffe. New York: Penguin Books.
[9] Descartes, R. (1998) Treatise on man. In S. Gaukroger (Ed.), The world and other writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511605727.008
[10] Dowrick, C. (1999). Uncertainty and responsibility. In C. Dowrick, & L. Frith (Eds.), General practice and ethics: Uncertainty and responsibility. London: Routledge.
[11] Dworkin, G. (1988). The theory and practice of autonomy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511625206
[12] Evans, L., et al. (2012). Epistemology and uncertainty: A follow-up study with third year medical students. Family Medicine, 44, 1.
[13] Giordano, J. (2009). Quo vadis: Philosophy, ethics, and humanities in medicine: Preserving the humanistic character of medicine in a biotechnological future. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, 2, 4-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1747-5341-4-12
[14] Groopman, J. (2007). How doctors think. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
[15] Janicek, M., & Hitchcock, D. L. (2004). Evidence-based practice: Logic and critical thinking in medicine. Chicago, IL: American Medical Association Press.
[16] Johannson, I., & Lynoe, N. (2008). Philosophy and medicine: A twenty first century introduction. Franfurt: OntosVerlag.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110321364
[17] Jonas, H. (1966) The phenomenon of life: Towards a philosophical biology. New York: Delta Book.
[18] Kant, I. (1992). Grounding for the metaphysics of morals. In L. M. Michael (Ed.), Classics of moral and political theory. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company.
[19] Lee, K. (2012). The philosophical foundations of modern medicine. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
[20] Leyens, S. (2011). Subjectivité et soin palliatives: De l’idéal a la pratique. In L. Ravez, & C. Tilman-Cabiaux (Eds.), La Médicine Autrement! Pour une Ethique de la Subjectivité Médical. Namur: Presses Universitaires de Namur.
[21] Marcum, J. A. (2008). An introductory philosophy of medicine: Humanizing modern medicine. Springer Science.
[22] Marcum, J. A. (2012). Philosophy of medicine.
http://www.iep.utm.edu/medicine/
[23] Montgomery, K. (2006). How doctors think: Clinical judgment and the practice of medicine. New York: Oxford University Press.
[24] Nutton, V. (2004). Ancient medicine. London: Routledge.
[25] Onions, C. T. (1998). Oxford dictionary of english etymology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[26] Pellegrino, E. D., & Thomasma, D. C. (1981). A philosophical basis of medical practice. New York: Oxford University Press.
[27] Pellegrino, E. D. (1998). What the philosophy of medicine is. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, 19, 315-336.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1009926629039
[28] Potter, R. (1996). Cambridge illustrated history of medicine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[29] Raney, L. (2013). Integrated care: Evolving role of psychiatry in an era of health care reform. Psychiatric Services, 64, 11.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201300311
[30] Ravez, L., & Tilman-Cabiaux, C. (2011). La Medicine autrement! Pour une éthique de la Subjectivité Médical. Namur: Presse Universitaires de Namur.
[31] Rawls, J. (1999). A theory of justice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[32] Riordan, H. (1976). A humanistic approach to medical practice. Dialogue: A Kansas Journal of Health Concerns, 3, 4.
[33] Schaffner, K. F., & Engelhardt, T. (2000). The philosophy of medicine. In E. Craig (Ed.), Concise routledge encyclopedia of philosophy. London: Routledge.
[34] Scott, J. G., et al. (2009). Healing relationship and the existential philosophy of martin Buber Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine. http://www.peh.med.com/content/4/1/11
[35] Shapiro, J. (2008). Walking a mile in their patients’ shoes: Empathy and othering in medical students’ education.” Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, 3, 10.
http://www.peh.com/content/3/1/10
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1747-5341-3-10
[36] Tangwa, G. B. (2011). Ethics in African education. In A. B. Nsamenang, & T. M. S. Tchombe (Eds.), Handbook of African educational theories and practices: A generative teacher education curriculum. Bamenda: Press Universitaire D’Afrique.
[37] WHO (1948). Preamble to the constitution of the world health organization as adopted by the international health conference. New York, 19-22 June, 1946; signed on 22 July 1946 by the representatives of 61 States (Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100) and entered into force on 7 April 1948.
[38] Wilberg, P. (2001). Human ontology or human genomics? Heidegger’s health warning to humanity.
www.meaningofdepression.com/Human%20Ontology.ppt

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.