The Use of Eponyms in Education: Ethics, History, and Constructivism

Abstract

The use of eponyms (personal names used as nouns) in anatomy and medicine has a long and complicated history. Eponyms have been gradually removed from most curricula in favor of descriptive terms as specified in the Terminologica Anatomica. However, a number of eponyms remain in current use, usually given as an alternate term after the preferred term has been defined. I argue that the use of eponyms in normal anatomy and medical curricula should be completely removed. I define three primary arguments for the removal of eponyms. 1. Some eponyms honor scientists who made discoveries through unethical means, notable Nazi scientists in the Third Reich. 2. Many eponyms originated in 18th‐ and 19th‐ century Europe, giving the impression that only male European scientists contributed to the history of medicine. 3. From a pedagogical perspective, eponyms reinforce the misconception that “anatomy is pure memorization.” If we value constructivism and long‐term knowledge retention, systematic names are more valuable to the novice student than the apparently arbitrary eponyms applied to medical and anatomical entities. All of the arguments outlined above are only relevant to the perspective of the anatomy/medical educators. If one is teaching ethics or history of medicine, then the use of eponyms is a great way to highlight the ethical and historical debates necessary to those courses.Support or Funding InformationNoneThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.