title: Why bioethics needs the philosophy of medicine: some implications of reflection on concepts of health and disease.
abstract: Germund Hesslow has argued that concepts of health and disease serve no important scientific, clinical, or ethical function. However, this conclusion depends upon the particular concept of disease he espouses; namely, on Boorse's functional notion. The fact/value split embodied in the functional notion of disease leads to a sharp split between the "science" of medicine and bioethics, making the philosophy of medicine irrelevant for both. By placing this disease concept in the broader context of medical history, I shall show that it does capture an essential part of modern medical ideology. However, it is also a self-contradictory notion. By making explicit the value desiderate of medical nosologies, a reconfiguration of the relation between medicine, bioethics, and the philosophy of medicine is initiated. This, in turn, will involve a recovery of the caring dimensions of medicine, and thus a more humane practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy, University of South Carolina, Columbia 29208, USA.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Khushf
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D004194:Disease; D026690:Ethics, Clinical; D004992:Ethics, Medical / Q000266:history; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D006808:Humanism; D006801:Humans; D010686:Philosophy, Medical / Q000266:history; D012945:Social Values