A New Approach to Defining Disease. Issue 4 (9th July 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Walker, Mary Jean; Rogers, Wendy A
• Is Part Of: Journal of medicine and philosophy. Volume 43:Issue 4(2018:Aug.)
• Page Start: 402
• Page End: 420
• Publication Date: 2018-07-09
• Subjects: cluster concept -- concept -- conceptual analysis -- definition -- disease; Medicine -- Philosophy -- Periodicals; Medical ethics -- Periodicals; Ethics, Medical -- Periodicals; Philosophy, Medical -- Periodicals; 616.001
• DOI: 10.1093/jmp/jhy014
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0360-5310

Abstract

Abstract: In this paper, we examine recent critiques of the debate about defining disease, which claim that its use of conceptual analysis embeds the problematic assumption that the concept is classically structured. These critiques suggest, instead, developing plural stipulative definitions. Although we substantially agree with these critiques, we resist their implication that no general definition of "disease" is possible. We offer an alternative, inductive argument that disease cannot be classically defined and that the best explanation for this is that the concept is structured as a cluster. We further argue that we do not need to reject the possibility of defining the general concept "disease" to legitimate developing stipulative definitions of disease that are relative to particular purposes. A cluster definition of disease is compatible with contextually motivated definitions, which may be considered précisifications of the more general cluster concept.