title: [Relation of symptoms and theories of pathology].
abstract: The evaluation of symptoms, syndromes and diseases with regard to the explanations which medicine provides for the illness of a certain patient deals with the epistomological dimension of medicine. The central problem of this endeavour is how to apply general theories of diseases (pathological theories) to individual patients. Part of this problem is the structure of the relation between the empirical and the theoretical level, which is the subject of the present investigation. We provide evidence that the two levels are not deductively connected. This is of special importance for practical medicine since it follows that scientifically inexpressible elements must play a part in coming to a rational clinical decision.
authors.affiliation: Institut für allgemeine und experimentelle Pathologie, Universität Wien.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Widder
mesh_terms: D003933:Diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008128:Logic; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010338:Pathology, Clinical; D010686:Philosophy, Medical
vernacular_title: Uber die Beziehung zwischen Symptomen und Theorien der Pathologie.