B0403 - PHILOSOPHY OF MEDICINE

Course contents

This course introduces to the contemporary debate in the philosophy of medicine, and provides the basic notions and competences that enable future doctors to reflect critically on the concepts and methodologies implicit in medical research and clinical practice.

It does not require any preliminary acquaintance with philosophy.

It is recommended for students from the third year on, who have already come into contact with research and clinical issues, but obviously it is not precluded to first-year students.

Themes:

1. Disease

What makes a certain condition a disease or pathology? Normativist and naturalist definitions. The problem of the threshold between disease and risk factors. Controversial diseases: is old age a disease? What about obesity? Other examples from psychiatric nosology. We will see how the concept of disease one adopts affects public health policies, treatment and research.

2. Health

Medicine aims to preserve and restore people's health But what is health? Different concepts of health, from the absence of disease to complete well-being. Well-being, quality of life and other constructs are based both on evidence and on the values of society and the preferences of indivuduals. Again, different concepts of health and well-being determine different policies and models of care.

3. Evidence

What is Evidence-based Medicine? What do we mean by evidence or evidence in medicine? Why is the evidence sorted in a hierarchy, that is, some studies are "better" than others for confirming a hypothesis or answering a clinical question? The concept of cause in medicine. Guidelines and the role of the individual clinician's judgment. More recent critiques and changes to the classic EBM paradigm.

4. Medicine, society and values

What values guide medical research and what interests shape it?. The notion of conflict of interest. Social epistemology of medicine: the role of patients and of the so-called "big Pharma" and private partners. Overdiagnosis and medicalization: is there "too much medicine"? Issues of equitable distribution of resources in healthcare systems.

Readings/Bibliography

Required reading: class notes published on Virtuale

Suggested reading: Stegenga, J. (2018). Care and cure: An introduction to philosophy of medicine. University of Chicago Press.

Other materials or videos suggested for additional individual study will be uploaded to Virtual during the course week.

Teaching methods

Lectures with slides.

Traditional lectures with slides for the first presentation of the material. This will be followed by guided discussions, with the aim of developing the ability to articulate sharable reasons in support of a thesis or against a point of view to be criticised.

At the end of each lecture a pdf with the powerpoint presentation will be available on Virtuale platform.

Power Point presentations of the lectures and supplementary scientific articles will be the material to be reviewed for the written exam at the end of the course.

This is an hybrid teaching course. 2 hours will be online. All classes in presence will also be recorded.

Assessment methods

Written examination. Details will be announced at the beginning of the course. This module is part of an integrated elective course and the final outcome, if successful, is a pass, not a grade.

Teaching tools

Files uploaded to Virtuale, ppt presentation during classes.

Online discussions. Recordings of classes.

This is an hybrid teaching course. 2 hours will be online. All classes in presence will also be recorded.

Office hours

See the website of Elisabetta Lalumera