0005 582H Humanities
Philosophy of Medicine

Instructor(s): Stephen S. Lefrak, M.D. Professor of Medicine Director, Humanities Program in Medicine

Medicine is a complex enterprise that has a major impact on our society. As such it draws increasing attention from those within the health care professions as well as those outside medicine whose expertise may lie in law, social science, philosophy, policy, etc. Physicians in addition to their clinical and research responsibilities must become increasingly adept at inter disciplinary activities. It is never too early in a career to begin to examine “medical” concepts that are frequently employed without being clarified thus hindering communication rather than solving problems.

It is this clarification process that philosophy addresses. The very issues that philosophy has dwelt on throughout the centuries are the very ones that are critical for medicine, think of “death” or “personhood” for example. Also whether medical concepts are “real” or “constructed” is important for both the disciplines of medicine and philosophy. And dare we even mention such issues as the relationship between mind and body, notions of causality, how and what we mean when we “know something” and “free will”.

This selective is looking for a very small number of students who would be interested in beginning such a study with the goals of developing their own understanding as well as introducing it into the medical school curriculum in a formal way. The classical sub divisions of philosophy such as ontology (science of being, existence), epistemology (science of knowing), ethics (moral philosophy), and social philosophy may all serve to clarify important issues in medicine.

For example physicians focus on disease in many ways, yet are diseases descriptive realities or normative (value) concepts ? The impact of which answer is accepted is felt throughout society; as what will be reimbursed as health care, what is enacted into policy and law (Americans with Disability Act), and to what the range of medicine is and where are its boundaries.

The epistemology of medicine may also be somewhat unique. What physicians take as evidence and what we mean by causality may be very different than what is meant in other scientific disciplines. The terms used by physicians such as evidence, causality, explanation, hypothesis, theory, etc should be critically analyzed by physicians. The impact of our understanding of this has great effect on our patients both in clinical care and what research is persued and accepted. Of course ethics plays an important role in medicine but this course is focused on a philosophical analysis of the biological sciences and the constructs of medicine with emphasis on ontology, and epistemology.

Enrollment limited to between 5 and 10 students.

Course Requirements:

· Attend all class sessions and participate in class discussions
· Complete required reading assignments
· Complete the course evaluation form

Class Format:

· Discussion
· Presentations by representatives

Time:

3:30-5:00 p.m.

Date:

1/07/2010
1/21/2010
1/28/2010
2/04/2010
2/11/2010
2/18/2010

Location:

Farrell Learning and Teaching Center Small Group Room to be determined