title: Advertisement for the ontology for medicine.
abstract: The ontology of medicine--the question of whether disease entities are real or not--is an underdeveloped area of philosophical inquiry. This essay explains the primary question at issue in medical ontology, discusses why answering this question is important from both a philosophical and a practical perspective, and argues that the problem of medical ontology is unique, i.e., distinct, from the ontological problems raised by other sciences and therefore requires its own analysis.
authors.affiliation: Columbia University, 41 W. 96th St., #9B, New York, NY 10025, USA. js1115@columbia.edu
authors.forename: Jeremy R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Simon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004194:Disease; D006801:Humans; D008678:Metaphysics; D010686:Philosophy, Medical