Advances in Experimental Philosophy of Medicine - by Kristien Hens & Andreas de Block (Paperback)

About the Book

"Introduces an experimental approach to philosophy of medicine, showcasing current empirical work and future research directions for the field"--

Book Synopsis

This open access collection brings together a team of leading scholars and rising stars to consider what experimental philosophy of medicine is and can be.

While experimental philosophy of science is an established field, attempts to tackle issues in philosophy of medicine from an experimental angle are still surprisingly scarce. A team of interdisciplinary scholars demonstrate how we can make progress by integrating a variety of methods from experimental philosophy, including experiments, sociological surveys, simulations, as well as history and philosophy of science, in order to yield meaningful results about the core questions in medicine. They focus on concepts central to philosophy of medicine and medical practice, such as death, pain, disease and disorder, advance directives, medical explanation, disability and informed consent.

Presenting empirical findings and providing a crucial foundation for future work in this dynamic field, this collection explores new ways for philosophers to cooperate with scientists and reveals the value of these collaborations for both philosophy and medicine.

The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the European Research Council Starting Grant.

Review Quotes

Recent decades have seen nearly every area of philosophy, from semantics to epistemology to metaethics, fruitfully engaging with methods of experimental philosophy. Now Hens and De Block have put together an excellent and pathbreaking collection of essays that examine how those methods illuminate core issues in the philosophy of medicine.
Daniel Kelly, Professor of Philosophy, Purdue University, USA

This exciting volume bridges the gap between philosophers' armchair analyses and how people actually think about medical concepts, with enormous practical as well as theoretical implications. From pain to the essence of the self, from death to mental disorder, philosophers' theories of the concepts by which we construct our medical universe are put to empirical test in ways that provoke and illuminate. This is a foundational volume for a field sure to burgeon in coming years.
Jerome C. Wakefield, Professor of Social Work and the Conceptual Foundations of Psychiatry, New York University, USA

This is a remarkable volume showcasing new empirical approaches that are pushing the boundaries of traditional philosophy of medicine and psychiatry. It reflects the maturation of x-phi as a discipline, and highlights how fresh perspectives and innovative methods of the discipline are forcing philosophers and physicians alike to reconsider long-held positions.
Awais Aftab, Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Case Western Reserve University, USA.

About the Author

Kristien Hens is Research Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Antwerp, Belgium.

Andreas De Block is Full Professor in the Institute of Philosophy at KU Leuven, Belgium.