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More About This Textbook
Overview
How do scientists develop new explanations of disease? How do those explanations become accepted as true? And how does medical diagnosis change when physicians are confronted with new scientific evidence? These are some of the questions that Paul Thagard pursues in this pathbreaking book that develops a new, integrative approach to the study of science.
Ranging through the history of medicine, from the Hippocratic theory of humors to modern explanations of Mad Cow Disease and chronic fatigue syndrome, Thagard analyzes the development and acceptance of scientific ideas. At the heart of the book is a case study of the recent dramatic shift in medical understanding of peptic ulcers, most of which are now believed to be caused by infection by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori. When this explanation was first proposed in 1983, it was greeted with intense skepticism by most medical experts, but it became widely accepted over the next decade. Thagard discusses the psychological processes of discovery and acceptance, the physical processes involving instruments and experiments, and the social processes of collaboration, communication, and consensus that brought about this transformation in medical knowledge.
How Scientists Explain Disease challenges both traditional philosophy of science, which has viewed science as largely a matter of logic, and contemporary science studies that view science as largely a matter of power. Drawing on theories of distributed computing and artificial intelligence, Paul Thagard develops new models that make sense of scientific change as a complex system of cognitive, social, and physical interactions.
This is a book that will appeal to all readers with an interest in the development of science and medicine. It combines an engaging style, significant research, and a powerfully original argument.
Editorial Reviews
The Times Higher Education Supplement - Charles Bangham
This book is remarkable for its clarity and its lack of doctrine. At each stage, Thagard outlines in plain terms precisely what he is trying to explain, and illustrates his explanation . . . It is precisely this even-handed and commonsense approach that allows him to give an accurate portrayal of what scientific advance is like. If this is what philosophers can do for science and medicine, we need more help from them.Journal of the History of Medicine - K. Codell Carter
An engaging look at contemporary medical science.British Medical Journal - Julia Lowe
For anyone who has practised medicine long enough to wonder how and why some theories become fashionable and others fail to thrive, this book will make an interesting read. Paul Thagard finds both the traditional view of science as logic and the postmodern view of science as power inadequate for understanding how science develops.Philosophy of Science - Lindley Darden
This clear and easy to read book is suitable for the general public and students, as well as professional philosophers of science. . . . The general reader will appreciate introductions to the logical, cognitive, and sociological approaches to the study of science. . . . Useful summaries at the end of each chapter allow a quick read of main points.Journal of the History of Medicine
An engaging look at contemporary medical science.— K. Codell Carter
British Medical Journal
For anyone who has practised medicine long enough to wonder how and why some theories become fashionable and others fail to thrive, this book will make an interesting read. Paul Thagard finds both the traditional view of science as logic and the postmodern view of science as power inadequate for understanding how science develops.— Julia Lowe
Philosophy of Science
This clear and easy to read book is suitable for the general public and students, as well as professional philosophers of science. . . . The general reader will appreciate introductions to the logical, cognitive, and sociological approaches to the study of science. . . . Useful summaries at the end of each chapter allow a quick read of main points.— Lindley Darden
The Times Higher Education Supplement
This book is remarkable for its clarity and its lack of doctrine. At each stage, Thagard outlines in plain terms precisely what he is trying to explain, and illustrates his explanation . . . It is precisely this even-handed and commonsense approach that allows him to give an accurate portrayal of what scientific advance is like. If this is what philosophers can do for science and medicine, we need more help from them.— Charles Bangham
Library Journal
Thagard philosophy, Univ. of Waterloo, Ontario; Mind: Introduction to Cognitive Science, MIT, 1996 presents a detailed structure for the scientific understanding of disease built on social, philosophical, and logical constructs. After an overview of the scientific process, he provides a detailed case study of how the theory that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori causes peptic ulcers gained acceptance. He then looks at the social aspects of scientific understanding and reviews the collaborative process of current scientific research, consensus building, and even the validity of information on the Internet. This valuable work is directed at students, scholars, and educated lay readers. Recommended for university and large college libraries.--Eric D. Albright, Duke Medical Ctr. Lib., Durham, NC Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.Booknews
Using the recent discovery of as a case study, Thagard (philosophy and cognitive science, U. of Waterloo, Canada) analyzes how disease mechanisms are discovered, explained, and accepted. He focuses on mind, society, and experiment as equally important factors in the development of new theories. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)Kirkus Reviews
A laborious examination of the evolution of the bacterial theory of peptic ulcers, pointing more generally to how scientific theories evolve. Thagard (Philosophy/Univ. Of Waterloo, Canada) begins by arguing against a traditional view of scientists as individuals conducting objective experiments with no presupposed outcome. The "postmodern view" of scientists trying to prove a hypothesis that will be most beneficial to them ("largely a matter of politics") is similarly too simplistic. Thagard interlaces general arguments about the nature of scientists and scientific research with specific details of several scientific theories, such as headline-provoking conditions like "mad cow" disease and chronic fatigue syndrome. In the meat of the book, the author discusses diseases such as scurvy and his benchmark case, the bacterial theory of ulcers. The history of this theory is elaborated in some detail—we learn, among other things, that one of the reseachers swallowed a live culture of the bacteria to prove his point. Thagard's general discussions of scientific research schemas include many flow-chart-like diagrams that demonstrate possible cause-and-effect relationships, such as how social and psychological explanations of science relate to the science itself. The book tries too hard to explain itself, plodding through each theory step by step, even giving some arguments in outline form. This poor writing tends to obfuscate matters rather than simplify them. Thagard's treatment of complex equations showing causal probabilities, for example, concludes with the obtuse statement that "causal reasoning requires the abductive inference that a factor has the power to produce an effect." Oncedeciphered, this is hardly a profound point. At its best, an engaging description of mysterious diseases past and present, but the book gets bogged down in flow charts, outlines, and equations that will leave the casual reader more frustrated than enlightened. (33 illustrations, not seen)Product Details
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