Biological normativity: a new hope for naturalism?

Since Boorse [Philos Sci 44(4):542–573, 1977] published his paper “Health as a theoretical concept” one of the most lively debates within philosophy medicine has been on question whether health and disease are in some sense ‘objective’ ‘value-free’ or ‘subjective’ ‘value-laden’. Due to apparent ‘failure’ pure naturalist, constructivist, normativist accounts, much recent literature appealed more conciliatory approaches so-called ‘hybrid accounts’ disease. A by Matthewson Griffiths [J Med Philos 42(4):447–466, 2017], however, may bear seeds for revival purely naturalist approach In this paper, I defend their idea Biological Normativity against criticism Schwartz Forum Bioethics 42(4):485–502, 2017] hope help it flower into medicine.