Dis-ease about kinds: reply to D'Amico.
In The Nature of Disease I argued that a value-free account of our concept of disease cannot be given. Part of this argument consisted in showing that diseases as a class do not constitute a natural kind. To understand this, we need only see that we define and classify conditions into diseases and non-diseases not in terms of their causes but in terms of their effects. While no philosophical position is watertight, the arguments overwhelmingly favour the conclusion that diseases do not constitute a natural kind.
Reznek
L
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Department of Psychiatry, Toronto Hospital, Canada.
D001294:Attitude to Health; D003933:Diagnosis; D004194:Disease / Q000145:classification; D006801:Humans; D010686:Philosophy, Medical; D012945:Social Values