Care & Cure: An Introduction to Philosophy of Medicine

Book Synopsis: The author of Medical Nihilism examines the philosophical complications and controversies underlying medicine. The philosophy of medicine has become a vibrant and complex intellectual landscape, and Care and Cure is the first extended attempt to map it. In pursuing the interdependent aims of caring and curing, medicine relies on concepts, theories, inferences, and policies that are often complicated and controversial. Bringing much-needed clarity to the interplay of these diverse problems, Jacob Stegenga describes the core philosophical controversies underlying medicine in this unrivaled introduction to the field. The fourteen chapters in Care and Cure present and discuss conceptual, metaphysical, epistemological, and political questions that arise in medicine, buttressed with lively illustrative examples ranging from debates over the true nature of disease to the effectiveness of medical interventions and homeopathy. Poised to be the standard sourcebook for anyone seeking a comprehensive overview of the canonical concepts, current state, and cutting edge of this vital field, this concise introduction will be an indispensable resource for students and scholars of medicine and philosophy. Praise for Care & Cure: “An exceptionally clear, accessible, and organized introduction to key concepts and central debates in the philosophy of medicine. There is as yet no single-author, comprehensive introduction to this new field. Stegenga’s excellent book fills this lacuna.” —Anya Plutynski, Department of Philosophy, Washington University in St. Louis, author of Explaining Cancer: Finding Order in Disorder “Care and Cure cogently argues that while scholarship on ethics and the practice of medicine are in plenitude, there is a dearth of scholarship grappling with a host of other philosophical questions and issues concerning medicine as a discipline. A balanced overview.” —Mark H. Waymack, Department of Philosophy, Loyola University Chicago “As an introductory text in the philosophy of medicine, Care and Cure offers a comprehensive overview of the field which is accessible to beginners in philosophy. Notably for a philosophical book on medicine, it is not a work in medical ethics, but in applied philosophy of science. Well-written and well-structured, Stegenga’s book is a very welcome addition to the philosophy of medicine literature.” —Hane Maung, Department of Philosophy, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester