science versus pseudoscience in medicine alireza monajemi, md-phd department of philosophy of...
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Science versus Pseudoscience in medicine
Alireza Monajemi, MD-PhDDepartment of philosophy of science
IHCS
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Demarcation problem in Philosophy of science
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Demarcation
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Paradigm shift in demarcation problem in health issues
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• Those who practice medicine must also wrestle with the question ‘what is science?’ when they decide whether to use a particular diagnostic test, drug, or therapy.
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• It almost goes without saying that a great deal hinges on the distinction between scientific and unscientific medicine, since medical decisions have direct, immediate, and significant effects on human health and well being.
• ‘Good’ medicine can save lives, but ‘bad’ medicine can kill.
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• In medicine, the demarcation problem often boils down to finding a way
• to distinguish between ‘scientific medicine’ and ‘alternative medicine’ (Angell and
• Kassirer, 1998
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• Depending on how you view it, alternative medicine could be classified as
• ‘junk science’,• ‘fringe science’, • ‘weak science’, • or ‘pseudo science’.
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Pragmatic approach to demarcation
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• Although there has been considerable debate about whether the practice of medicine is a science or an art, most clinicians and theorists agree that science plays an important role in medical practice (Little, 1995).
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Medicine is not equal to
applied biology!
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Science and medicine
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Claim
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Claim
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