Nosology, ontology and promiscuous realism.
Medics may consider worrying about their metaphysics and ontology to be a waste of time. I will argue here that this is not the case. Promiscuous realism is a metaphysical position which holds that multiple, equally valid, classification schemes should be applied to objects (such as patients) to capture different aspects of their complex and heterogeneous nature. As medics at the bedside may need to capture different aspects of their patients' problems, they may need to use multiple classification schemes (multiple nosologies), and thus consider adopting a different metaphysics to the one commonly in use.
EGENIS: Centre for the Life Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
Nicholas
N
Binney
D004194:Disease / Q000145:classification*; D049670:History, 17th Century; D006801:Humans; D008678:Metaphysics
diagnosis; nosology; ontology; philosophy; promiscuous realism