Topic
Philosophy of science research, explained
7 open-access philosophy of science studies, each with a flashcard deck and a quiz.
- What does it mean to say gene therapy 'cures' a disease?
The word 'cure' means different things to different people, so doctors should avoid it with patients and define it narrowly when it is used to justify funding or prices.
- Does personalized medicine personalize the person?
Personalized medicine is an umbrella of molecular labels that still presupposes a particular concept of the person; judging its success means stepping outside advocate-versus-cynic talk.
- Why is obesity science so hard to control?
Post-genomic optimism about fine-grained control meets obesity as a multi-level system: intervention, integration and translation cannot be pulled apart.
- Is virulence only in the germ?
Honigsbaum shows René Dubos attacking the germ-theory idea that virulence belongs to microbes alone, stressing host physiology, soil-like environments, and incomplete BCG protection.
- Pluralism, relativism, and van Fraassian stances
Scientific pluralism does not entail epistemic relativism; the usual 'renunciation of judgment' contrast fails.
- Two forms of functional reductionism in physics
Lewisian syntactic/Nagelian and model-based semantic/structuralist frameworks are developed as alternative functional reductions.
- Why should philosophers study marine science?
Because philosophy of science began as philosophy of physics, the authors recommend a Krogh principle: pick extreme, constrained sciences — here marine science — as study systems for general topics.