Philosophy of Medicine

The Philosophy of Medicine is undergoing a renaissance at present.

This set is a guide both to the background of this revival and to the seminal recent works that continue to shape the field as it evolves.

The collection is structured according to themes reflecting the main areas within the field. 'Concepts of Health' covers the principle movers in the long-running debate between those who think that health is a natural property (like body mass, only more complex), and those who think that it is an evaluative property depending in some way on human value judgements (like beauty). 'Concepts of Diseases' addresses a different line of literature extending back into the nineteenth century, when "germ theory" gained ascendance.

It provides the principle texts that have shaped our thinking about what disease is, what makes one disease different from another, how diseases should be differentiated and classified, and what to do with "multifactorial" diseases. 'Evidence in Medicine' concerns the role of evidence in medicine, and the evolution of different conceptions of the nature of good evidence.

A major driver for recent developments in medical thinking is the rise of epidemiology, it is impossible to understand key developments in medicine without an understanding of epidemiology - developments such as the rise of causal thinking about disease, the rise of multifactorial thinking, the Evidence Based Medicine movement, and the growing appreciation of the importance of lifestyle and socioeconomic status to health, among others.

Hence this set treats the philosophy of medicine and epidemiology as complementary, and draws from both to provide a complete picture of the contemporary state of philosophical thinking about medical science and practice. With a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Philosophy of Medicine provides everything a scholar needs to break into the field, and is an invaluable reference work for the expert.