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In-Depth Information
8
Epistemology of Medical Knowledge
Clara Barroso
“For, equally with the rest of science, therapeutics is based exclusively on
its own facts, which must be observed and investigated for themselves, and
judged on their own merits; and which can rarely be predicated at all, never
with certainty, in advance of experience. We must, it is true, first find out
what is wrong with exactness, before we can rectify that wrong.”
C. Radcliffe Hall: President's Address. British Medical Journal, 1860.
8.1
Introduction
There have been many attempts to define the limits between science and art within
Medicine ever since it was established as a socially acknowledged, specialised prac-
tice. Despite these attempts, the questions regarding the epistemological statute of
this discipline are not completely resolved, which presents an added difficulty when
proposing how to develop computer models and applications capable of represent-
ing this area of knowledge. The appearance of an evidence-based practice (EBP)
model which can guide new conceptions of Medicine and its practice has sparked
further discussion on what kind of knowledge constitutes Medicine. ([1], also [6].)
This article reviews some of the historical milestones in the field of Medicine in
order to discover what kind of knowledge constitutes the discipline and proposes
a systemic interpretation of Medicine as an epistemological resource to justify and
understand the different kinds of knowledge that, in our opinion, constitute the body
of expert knowledge in this field.
The way Medicine is approached in this work is not linked to every cultural back-
ground; it reviews the milestones that have given rise to the knowledge recognised as
'medicine' in our cultural background, obviating contributions that in other cultures
and in other periods of development have given rise to therapeutic practices, some
of which are still used today. In other words, this article analyses knowledge that,
in the development of 'science', has given rise to what is denominated Medicine in
our culture.
