Where is philosophy of medicine headed? A report of the International Advanced Seminar in the Philosophy of Medicine (IASPM).

Abstract

A major part of philosophy of medicine, although not all of it, is a branch of philosophy of science. This part is not only currently emerging. Many important contributions belong to this field, like Boorse’s ‘Health as a theoretical concept’ [1], which is probably the most cited article in the philosophy of medicine. Some contributions, although relevant for philosophy of science, are entrenched in bioethics, medical humanities, and historical and social studies of science. Other contributions come from fields such as philosophy of biology, general philosophy of science, philosophy of neuroscience and philosophy of cognitive science, and can rightly be considered pieces of philosophy of medicine. This is so either because they thoroughly scrutinize examples of diseases or because they investigate scientific methods not necessarily specific to, but mostly used in, medical science. Certainly, questions about biological functions, causality, evidence, mechanisms and decision making are not only relevant to the study of medicine, but their specificity to this field makes them important for philosophy of medicine as well. The result is institutional dispersion. Despite the existence of a bunch of periodicals, there is no prominent journal in the philosophy of medicine as a branch of philosophy of science. Academic positions in this field often demand competence in bioethics and although no master’s programme in the world is yet dedicated to this specialty alone, some are emerging. Philosophers in this field, in early career or not, do not have many opportunities to gather for international events: the International Philosophy of Medicine Roundtable organizes the only one specific to the field. Yet philosophers of medicine significantly contribute papers and symposia to events such as the European Advanced Seminar in the Philosophy of the Life Science; the International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology; the Congress of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science; the Philosophy of Science Association; and the Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice meetings. Some sessions in the meetings of the European Society for Philosophy of Medicine and Healthcare have been dedicated to philosophy of medicine as a part of philosophy of science. Recently, a significant introduction to philosophy of medicine has been published: the Philosophy of Medicine: Handbook of Philosophy of Science [2]. Apart from dedicated journals such as Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy and Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy – which has significantly drifted towards bioethics for some years – some others have contributed special issues dedicated to philosophy of medicine, as the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, and more accept from time to time a paper very relevant for the philosophy of medicine, such as Biology and Philosophy; Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, Part C; and History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences. To contribute to a consolidation of the field, the International Advanced Seminar in the Philosophy of Medicine (IASPM) was created. The IASPM is a biannual event, the first session of which has been held in Paris from 20 June to 22 June 2013. It is sponsored by a consortium of five research centres: the Center for the Humanities and Health at King’s College (London, UK); the Institut fur Geschichte, Theorie und Ethik der Medizin at Johannes Gutenberg (Mainz, Germany); the European School of Molecular Medicine (Milan, Italy); the IHPST at Pantheon-Sorbonne (Paris, France); and the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Pittsburgh (USA). The Paris session gathered 22 advanced students or junior scholars in the philosophy of medicine: 11 were selected from each partner university and 11 others were selected by standard open call for contributions and peer review. Four senior philosophers gave talks and three others coordinated workshop sessions along with three PhD students. Sixty registered participants attended the event. The topic of the conference was ‘Unity and autonomy in the philosophy of medicine’. It was purposely not very specific, so that bs_bs_banner