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Is the Disease Concept Enough? Redefining Health and Disease Through Conceptual Engineering

Taylor, Robert Scott (2026) Is the Disease Concept Enough? Redefining Health and Disease Through Conceptual Engineering. Philosophy of Medicine, 7 (1). pp. 1-23. ISSN 2692-3963

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Abstract

In the philosophy of medicine, the debate surrounding accounts of health and disease is typically centered on attempts to provide a proper conceptual analysis of a singular medicalized label, such as “disease,” that is meant to represent all pathological states. Instead of engaging in conceptual analysis, I attempt to redefine our concepts of health and disease through the process of conceptual engineering. To do so, I propose a novel hybrid account of health and disease and demonstrate how, by combining aspects of naturalist and constructionist accounts and distinguishing between two different medicalized labels—“disease” and “health condition”—my account can better serve the purposes of these concepts.


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Item Type: Published Article or Volume
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Taylor, Robert Scottrst49@cam.ac.uk0009-0001-1773-7493
Keywords: Disease, Health, Depression, Addiction
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Medicine > Health and Disease
Specific Sciences > Medicine
Depositing User: Professor Stephen John
Date Deposited: 01 Jun 2026 12:33
Last Modified: 01 Jun 2026 12:33
Item ID: 29851
Journal or Publication Title: Philosophy of Medicine
Publisher: University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
Official URL: https://philmed.pitt.edu/philmed/article/view/228
DOI or Unique Handle: 10.5195/pom.2026.228
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Medicine > Health and Disease
Specific Sciences > Medicine
Date: 29 May 2026
Page Range: pp. 1-23
Volume: 7
Number: 1
ISSN: 2692-3963
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/29851

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