Maung, Hane Htut (2025) The Disunity of Disease. Philosophy of Medicine, 6 (1). pp. 1-27. ISSN 2692-3963
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Abstract
In a recent paper, Harriet Fagerberg argues that the disease debate in the philosophy of medicine makes little sense as conceptual analysis but instead should proceed on the assumption that disease is a real kind. I propose an alternative view. The history and practice of medicine give us reasons to doubt that the category of disease forms a real kind. Instead, drawing on work by Quill R. Kukla, I argue that the disease debate makes good sense on an understanding of disease as an institutional kind. As well as explaining key features of the disease debate, this can facilitate a philosophical understanding of disease that captures the eclectic scope of medicine and the complex reasons why conditions get classified as diseases.
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| Item Type: | Published Article or Volume | ||||||
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| Keywords: | Disease, Institutional kinds, Real kinds, Pathologization, Depathologization | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Medicine > Health and Disease Specific Sciences > Medicine |
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| Depositing User: | Professor Alex Broadbent | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 12 Aug 2025 12:52 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 12 Aug 2025 12:52 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 26210 | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Philosophy of Medicine | ||||||
| Publisher: | University Library System, University of Pittsburgh | ||||||
| Official URL: | https://philmed.pitt.edu/philmed/article/view/240 | ||||||
| DOI or Unique Handle: | 10.5195/pom.2025.240 | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Medicine > Health and Disease Specific Sciences > Medicine |
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| Date: | 31 July 2025 | ||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 1-27 | ||||||
| Volume: | 6 | ||||||
| Number: | 1 | ||||||
| ISSN: | 2692-3963 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/26210 |
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