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Understanding pathology in the context of physiological mechanisms: the practicality of a broken-normal view

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Abstract

The topic of disease mechanisms is of clinical importance, as our understanding of such mechanisms plays an important role in how we approach devising treatments for disease. In this paper, I critique an argument made by Mauro Nervi, in which he asserts that pathology is often better viewed in the context of distinct theoretical mechanisms. I use this critique as a starting point to argue that viewing pathology as a broken-normal, malfunctioning mechanism is more therapeutically practical and more relevant to clinical drug design, than creating a theoretical separation of pathology from physiology.

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Notes

  1. I thank Tudor Baetu for this point, made in a discussion of Nervi’s argument.

  2. I take physiological mechanism to refer to the way in which a mechanism affords a person the ability to survive and thrive (Kitcher 1996). This notion of normal physiology is most appropriate in the scope of medical practice.

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Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Lindley Darden for many helpful comments on earlier drafts, as well as the Maryland Philosophy of Biology Reading Group, including Lane DesAutels, Tudor Baetu, and Erika Milam for helpful discussion of Nervi’s paper.

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  1. University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Sara Moghaddam-Taaheri

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  1. Sara Moghaddam-Taaheri
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Correspondence to Sara Moghaddam-Taaheri.

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Moghaddam-Taaheri, S. Understanding pathology in the context of physiological mechanisms: the practicality of a broken-normal view. Biol Philos 26, 603–611 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-011-9258-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-011-9258-2

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