Introduction to Philosophy of Medicine
The Intellectual Anatomy of the Discipline
This book is a comprehensive intellectual examination that aims to revive
the forgotten philosophical foundations of medicine in an era of
increasing technicalization in modern medicine and a growing risk of
reducing the patient to measurable indicators. Examining the historical
continuity of the relationship between medicine and philosophy,
stretching from Ancient Greece to modern medicine, the work aims to
demonstrate that fundamental medical concepts such as health, illness,
the body, causality, and clinical decision-making are actually rooted
in profound ontological and epistemological issues. Problematizing the
modern biomedical paradigmʼs reductionist approach based on the Cartesian
mind-body duality, the book interprets disease not merely as a
physiological deterioration but as a phenomenon that disrupts human
existence in the world. Discussing the multifactorial and probabilistic
nature of medical causality, the book treats the uncertainty encountered
in clinical practice as an inevitable epistemic limit of medicine. In this
context, it argues that medicine is not merely a technical specialty, but
a praxis with interpretive, phenomenological, and ethical dimensions.
The work also examines the disciplinary status of philosophy of medicine,
arguing that this field cannot be confined solely to bioethics; rather,
it is a distinct philosophical discipline that illuminates the conceptual
and ontological integrity of medicine. The interpretation of illness as
a “dangerous opportunity” is another striking theses of the book: illness
creates an existential openness that forces the individual to break away
from their daily routines and rethink themselves, their bodies, and their
world. Consequently, the work transcends the narrow view of medicine
as a technical activity and offers a holistic philosophical perspective
that calls for a rethinking of medical reality, encompassing its metaphysical,
phenomenological, and epistemological dimensions.
Keywords: Philosophy of Medicine; Disciplinary Status; Illness; Clinical
Praxis; Existential Experience