Biological normativity: a new hope for naturalism?

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

Source: Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy - January 4, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research