Journal article
Re-evaluating concepts of biological function in clinical medicine: towards a new naturalistic theory of disease
Abstract
Naturalistic theories of disease appeal to concepts of biological function, and use the notion of dysfunction as the basis of their definitions. Debates in the philosophy of biology demonstrate how attributing functions in organisms and establishing the function-dysfunction distinction is by no means straightforward. This problematization of functional ascription has undermined naturalistic theories and led some authors to abandon the concept …
Authors
Chin-Yee B; Upshur REG
Journal
Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 245–264
Publisher
Springer Nature
Publication Date
August 2017
DOI
10.1007/s11017-017-9410-3
ISSN
1386-7415