Met Whitehead en Peirce aan de slag m.b.t. mirakels en de grenzen van de medische kennis

Referentie:

Stempsey, William E., "Miracles and the limits of medical knowledge", Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 5 (2002), p. 1-9.

Informatief extract:

"In considering whether medical miracles occur, the limits of epistemology bring us to confront our metaphysical world view of medicine and nature in general. This raises epistemological questions of a higher order. David Hume’s understanding of miracles as violations of the laws of nature assumes that nature is completely regular, whereas doctrines such as C. S. Peirce’s “tychism” hold that there is an element of absolute chance in the workings of the universe. Process philosophy gives yet another view of the working of nature. Physicians have no epistemological grounds for declaring any cure to be miraculous. Miracles are theological (or philosophical) entities, and not medical entities. All physicians can do is to determine whether or not a cure is scientifically inexplicable according to the current epistemological standards of medical science. As these standards change, what is currently unexplainable may become explainable. However, we can also come to realize that our current explanations are in fact unsatisfactory. Our justifications of knowledge claims about miracles will depend on our
views about determinism and indeterminism. If the universe is not a deterministic one, we should be open to the possibility of encountering what appear to us as sui generis events. These would not be violations of immutable laws of nature, but manifestations of the true workings of nature, and certainly causes for wonder.

Key words: determinism, epistemology, Hume, laws of nature, metaphysics, miracle, Peirce, Whitehead"

[abstracts and key words from author]

Creatieve commentaar:

Dit artikel vond ik 'toevallig' bij een van de zoekopdrachtjes tijdens de les. Een boeiend filosofisch onderwerp omdat er zeer verschillende disciplines in samenkomen zoals biomedische wetenschappen, psychologie, metafysica en theologie. Interessant kan ook de vergelijking zijn tussen hoe het in het encyclopedie-artikel wordt voorgesteld (een korte algemene weergave) en in dit artikel dat met Whitehead en Peirce aan de slag gaat.