On the difficulty of defining disease: A Darwinian perspective
dc.contributor.author | Nesse, Randolph M. | en_US |
dc.date.accessioned | 2006-09-08T21:12:46Z | |
dc.date.available | 2006-09-08T21:12:46Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2001-03 | en_US |
dc.identifier.citation | Nesse, Randolph M.; (2001). "On the difficulty of defining disease: A Darwinian perspective." Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 4(1): 37-46. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/43231> | en_US |
dc.identifier.issn | 1386-7423 | en_US |
dc.identifier.issn | 1572-8633 | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/43231 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=11315418&dopt=citation | en_US |
dc.description.abstract | Most attempts to craft a definition of disease seem to have tackled two tasks simultaneously: 1) trying to create a series of inclusion and exclusion criteria that correspond to medical usage of the word disease and 2) using this definition to understand the essence of what disease is. The first task has been somewhat accomplished, but cannot reach closure because the concept of “disease” is based on a prototype, not a logical category. The second task cannot be accomplished by deduction, but only by understanding how the body works and what each component is for, in evolutionary detail. An evolutionary view of the origins of the body and its vulnerabilities that result in disease provides an objective foundation for recognizing pathology. Our social definition of disease will remain contentious, however, because values vary, and because the label “disease” changes judgments about the moral status of people with various conditions, and their rights to medical and social resources. | en_US |
dc.format.extent | 75841 bytes | |
dc.format.extent | 3115 bytes | |
dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
dc.format.mimetype | text/plain | |
dc.language.iso | en_US | |
dc.publisher | Kluwer Academic Publishers; Springer Science+Business Media | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Medicine & Public Health | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Ethics | en_US |
dc.subject.other | History of Medicine | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Theory of Medicine/Bioethics | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Medical Law | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Darwinian Perspective | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Defence Mechanisms | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Disease Concept | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Evolution | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Genetic Traits | en_US |
dc.title | On the difficulty of defining disease: A Darwinian perspective | en_US |
dc.type | Article | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevel | Public Health | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevel | Medicine (General) | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevel | Philosophy | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbtoplevel | Humanities | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbtoplevel | Health Sciences | en_US |
dc.description.peerreviewed | Peer Reviewed | en_US |
dc.contributor.affiliationum | Institute for Social Research, Room 5057, The University of Michigan, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104 | en_US |
dc.contributor.affiliationumcampus | Ann Arbor | en_US |
dc.identifier.pmid | 11315418 | en_US |
dc.description.bitstreamurl | http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43231/1/11019_2004_Article_281328.pdf | en_US |
dc.identifier.doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1009938513897 | en_US |
dc.identifier.source | Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy | en_US |
dc.owningcollname | Interdisciplinary and Peer-Reviewed |
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