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Does Darwinian Medicine Foster Interdisciplinary Integration of Medicine and Evolutionary Biology?

Kranke, Nina (2021) Does Darwinian Medicine Foster Interdisciplinary Integration of Medicine and Evolutionary Biology? [Preprint]

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Abstract

One of the goals formulated by proponents of Darwinian medicine is to integrate medicine and evolutionary biology by integrating proximate and ultimate explanations. In this paper I discuss the so-called old friends hypothesis as an example of an explanation generated under the framework of Darwinian medicine. My analysis shows that Darwinian medicine does not integrate medicine and evolutionary biology in any strong sense but merely incorporates evolutionary concepts into medicine. I also show that backward-looking explanations in Darwinian medicine are not integrated proximate-and-ultimate explanations but functional explanations with that include reference to evolutionary concepts. Nevertheless, explanations in Darwinian medicine have heuristic roles as they contribute to conceptual change in medical research and tie pieces of knowledge from different fields of medical research together. I argue that Darwinian medicine is an interfield that fosters cross-disciplinary exchange between evolutionary biologists and medical researchers and practitioners based on division of labour and separation rather than unity.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Kranke, Ninanina.kranke@uni-muenster.de
Keywords: Darwinian medicine, interdisciplinary integration, evolutionary medicine, explanatory integration, old friends hypothesis
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Biology
Specific Sciences > Medicine
Depositing User: Nina Kranke
Date Deposited: 28 Nov 2021 05:32
Last Modified: 28 Nov 2021 05:32
Item ID: 19933
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Biology
Specific Sciences > Medicine
Date: 24 November 2021
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/19933

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