Clinical Evidence Epistemology

Epistemology of evidence based medicine.

Clinically relevant attitudes and guidelines issued by a rational evidence based medicine (EBM) approach integrate individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research. However, many physicians, while considering the ultraliberal world they are practising in and fearing that the primary goal of managed care in a market environment is reducing...

The Epistemology of Evidence in Cognitive Neuroscience

It is no secret that scientists argue. They argue about theories. But even more, they argue about the evidence for theories. Is the evidence itself trustworthy? This is a bit surprising from the perspective of traditional empiricist accounts of scientific methodology according to which the evidence for scientific theories stems from observation, especially observation with the naked eye. These ...

Evidence-based medicine: the epistemology that isn't.

Disagreement as Evidence: The Epistemology of Controversy

How much should your confidence in your beliefs be shaken when you learn that others – perhaps ‘epistemic peers’ who seem as well-qualified as you are – hold beliefs contrary to yours? This article describes motivations that push different philosophers towards opposite answers to this question. It identifies a key theoretical principle that divides current writers on the epistemology of disagre...

The epistemology of clinical decision-making

The goal of this thesis is to understand clinical decision-making regarding diagnosis and treatment and the role of different types of information, including measurements using technological instruments. From studying the history of medicine I conclude that the development of medical practice is intertwined with the development of science and scientific methods, and with the conceptions of dise...