Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-x4r87 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T10:52:25.049Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Causation in Medicine: The Disease Entity Model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Caroline Whitbeck
Caroline Whitbeck*
Affiliation:
State University of New York at Albany
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the way in which causal relations are understood in the dominant model in contemporary medicine. It argues that the causal relation is not definable in terms of the condition relation, but that in general for conditions of an occurrence to be among its causes they must answer instrumental interests in a certain way, and there are further criteria for distinguishing ‘the’ cause of a disease (i.e., its etiological agent) from other causal factors, which are based upon instrumental interests peculiar to medicine. It also argues that diseases are complex processes of which both clinical and underlying patho-physiological manifestations are proper parts (as contrasted with effects).

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 44 , Issue 4 , December 1977 , pp. 619 - 637
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

I wish to thank Professors Sandra Harding, Robert Creegan, Robert Howell and Steven Davis for useful criticisms of earlier versions of this paper, and to Professor Robert Garvin for several lengthy discussions on this topic.

References

[1] Black, D. A. K. The Logic of Medicine. London: Oliver & Body, Ltd., 1968.Google Scholar
[2] Bromberger, S. “Why-Questions.” In Mind and Cosmos: Essays in Contemporary Science and Philosophy, Vol. III, in the University of Pittsburgh Series in Philosophy of Science. Edited by Colodny, R., Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1966, pp. 86–111.Google Scholar
[3] Engelhardt, H. & Spicker, J. Evaluation and Explanation in the Biomedical Sciences, Proceedings of the First Transdisciplinary Symposium on Philosophy and Medicine, May 9–11, 1974. Dorrecht, Holland: D. Reidel, 1975.10.1007/978-94-010-1769-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[4] Engelhardt, H. Jr. [1975]: “The Concepts of Health and Disease.” In [3], pages 125–141.10.1007/978-94-010-1769-5_9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[5] Gasking, D. “Causation and Recipes.” Mind 64 (1955): 479–87.Google Scholar
[6] Hull, D. The Philosophy of Biological Science. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1974.Google Scholar
[7] King, L. “What is Disease?.” Philosophy of Science 21 (1954): 193–203.10.1086/287343CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[8] Nagel, E. Structure of Science. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1961.10.1119/1.1937571CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[9] Scriven, M. “Causation as Explanation.” Noûs 9 (1975): 3–16.10.2307/2214338CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[10] Scriven, M. “The Logic of Cause.” In Theory and Decision 2 (1971): 49–66.10.1007/BF00133138CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[11] Spiro, H. “The Tools of Our Trade—Some Comments on Disease and Disorder.” The New England Journal of Medicine 292 (1975): 575–578.10.1056/NEJM197503132921108CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
[12] Stedman's Medical Dictionary, 22nd edition. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins Company, 1972.Google Scholar
[13] Susser, M. Causal Thinking in the Health Sciences. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973.Google Scholar
[14] Whitbeck, C. “The Concepts, Syndrome and Disease.” In The Psycho-Surgery of John Doe. Edited by R. Baker, P. Lowinger, Pickard and Whipple.Google Scholar
[15] Whitbeck, C. “Essential Properties as Objects of Scientific Discovery.” Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
[16] Whitbeck, C. “The Relevance of the Philosophy of Medicine for the Philosophy of Science.” In PSA 1976, Volume Two. Edited by Suppe, F. and Asquith, P. D. Ann Arbor: Edwards Brothers, 1977. Pages 123–135.Google Scholar
[17] von Wright, G. Henrik. Explanation and Understanding. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell, 1971.Google Scholar
[18] von Wright, G. H. Causality and Determinism New York: Columbia, 1974.10.7312/wrig90574CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[19] Virchow, R. Disease, Life and Man. Translated with an introduction by Rather, Leland J. Palo Alto, California: Stanford University Press, 1958.Google Scholar