On Evidence and Evidence-Based Medicine: Lessons from the Philosophy of Science
Social Science and Medicine 62 (11):2621-2632 (2006)
| Abstract | The evidence-based medicine (EBM) movement is touted as a new paradigm in medical education and practice, a description that carries with it an enthusiasm for science that has not been seen since logical positivism flourished (circa 1920–1950). At the same time, the term ‘‘evidence-based medicine’’ has a ring of obviousness to it, as few physicians, one suspects, would claim that they do not attempt to base their clinical decision-making on available evidence. However, the apparent obviousness of EBM can and should be challenged on the grounds of how ‘evidence’ has been problematised in the philosophy of science. EBM enthusiasm, it follows, ought to be tempered. The post-positivist, feminist, and phenomenological philosophies of science that are examined in this paper contest the seemingly unproblematic nature of evidence that underlies EBM by emphasizing different features of the social nature of science. The appeal to the authority of evidence that characterizes evidence-based practices does not increase objectivity but rather obscures the subjective elements that inescapably enter all forms of human inquiry. The seeming common sense of EBM only occurs because of its assumed removal from the social context of medical practice. In the current age where the institutional power of medicine is suspect, a model that represents biomedicine as politically disinterested or merely scientific should give pause. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
  |
| External links | This entry has no external links. Add one. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesMaya J. Goldenberg (2009). Iconoclast or Creed? Objectivism, Pragmatism, and the Hierarchy of Evidence. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 52 (2):168-187.
Maya J. Goldenberg (2012). Innovating Medical Knowledge: Undestanding Evidence-Based Medicine as a Socio-Medical Phenomenon. In Nikolaos Sitaras (ed.), Evidence-Based Medicine: Closer to Patients or Scientists? InTech Open Science.
Brian Hazelton Walsh (2010). The Spatialisation of Disease: Foucualt and Evidence-Based Medicine (Ebm). Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 7 (1):31-42.
Adam la Caze (2011). The Role of Basic Science in Evidence-Based Medicine. Biology and Philosophy 26 (1):81-98.
A. la Caze (2009). Evidence-Based Medicine Must Be .. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 34 (5):509-527.
Wendy Lipworth, Stacy M. Carter & Ian Kerridge (2008). The “Ebm Movement”: Where Did It Come From, Where is It Going, and Why Does It Matter? Social Epistemology 22 (4):425 – 431.
Ian Kerridge, Stacy M. Carter & Wendy Lipworth (2008). The “EBM Movement”: Where Did It Come From, Where is It Going, and Why Does It Matter? Social Epistemology 22 (4):425-431.
Mona Gupta (2007). Does Evidence-Based Medicine Apply to Psychiatry? Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 28 (2):103.
Malcolm Parker (2002). Whither Our Art? Clinical Wisdom and Evidence-Based Medicine. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 5 (3):273-280.
Maya J. Goldenberg (2010). Perspectives on Evidence-Based Healthcare for Women. Journal of Women's Health 19 (7):1235-1238.
Holly Andersen (forthcoming). Mechanisms: What Are They Evidence for in Evidence-Based Medicine. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice.
Adam La Caze (2008). Evidence-Based Medicine Can't Be…. Social Epistemology 22 (4):353 – 370.
Jeremy Howick (2011). The Philosophy of Evidence-Based Medicine. Wiley-Blackwell, Bmj Books.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2010-10-29Total downloads38 ( #31,488 of 556,837 )Recent downloads (6 months)22 ( #2,972 of 556,837 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
