Colin Howson
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198250371
- eISBN:
- 9780191597749
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198250371.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
Considers the increasingly popular, so‐called ‘No‐Miracles’ argument that we do have a valid inductive argument for supposing that our current theories, at any rate in physics, are substantially, if ...
More
Considers the increasingly popular, so‐called ‘No‐Miracles’ argument that we do have a valid inductive argument for supposing that our current theories, at any rate in physics, are substantially, if not wholly, true: it would be incredibly improbable that theories very far from the truth could make such extremely precise predictions, verified experimentally up to one part in a billion. Such ‘miracles’ of chance agreement can clearly be ruled out as themselves too improbable to be true. This apparently plausible argument is examined carefully and shown to consist in a number of separate steps, all of which are fallacious.Less
Considers the increasingly popular, so‐called ‘No‐Miracles’ argument that we do have a valid inductive argument for supposing that our current theories, at any rate in physics, are substantially, if not wholly, true: it would be incredibly improbable that theories very far from the truth could make such extremely precise predictions, verified experimentally up to one part in a billion. Such ‘miracles’ of chance agreement can clearly be ruled out as themselves too improbable to be true. This apparently plausible argument is examined carefully and shown to consist in a number of separate steps, all of which are fallacious.
Martin Paul
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199583447
- eISBN:
- 9780191594519
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199583447.003.0015
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
Some say that no challenge is more difficult than trying to change a traditional curriculum into a problem-based one. Maastricht University has been lucky in that it was able to start with ...
More
Some say that no challenge is more difficult than trying to change a traditional curriculum into a problem-based one. Maastricht University has been lucky in that it was able to start with problem-based learning (PBL) curricula right from its foundation. However, most universities that wish to adopt a PBL curriculum have to take a more difficult path. Some universities have walked this path successfully and it is worthwhile learning from their experiences. This chapter is based on involvement over the past twenty-five years in different models of PBL curricula, at Harvard Medical School, the University of Heidelberg, the Charité Medical Center in Berlin, and Maastricht University. It presents practical advice on the transition from a traditional to a PBL curriculum.Less
Some say that no challenge is more difficult than trying to change a traditional curriculum into a problem-based one. Maastricht University has been lucky in that it was able to start with problem-based learning (PBL) curricula right from its foundation. However, most universities that wish to adopt a PBL curriculum have to take a more difficult path. Some universities have walked this path successfully and it is worthwhile learning from their experiences. This chapter is based on involvement over the past twenty-five years in different models of PBL curricula, at Harvard Medical School, the University of Heidelberg, the Charité Medical Center in Berlin, and Maastricht University. It presents practical advice on the transition from a traditional to a PBL curriculum.
Mary-Jo DelVecchio Good
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520088962
- eISBN:
- 9780520922037
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520088962.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
What does it mean to be a good doctor in America today? How do such challenges as new biotechnologies, the threat of malpractice suits, and proposed health-care reform affect physicians' ability to ...
More
What does it mean to be a good doctor in America today? How do such challenges as new biotechnologies, the threat of malpractice suits, and proposed health-care reform affect physicians' ability to provide quality care? These and many other questions are examined in this book, which fully explores the meaning and politics of competence in modern American medicine. Based on ethnographic studies of three distinct medical communities—physicians in rural California, academics and students involved in Harvard Medical School's innovative “New Pathway” curriculum, and oncologists working on breast cancer treatment—it demonstrates the centrality of the issue of competence throughout the medical world. Competence, the book shows, provides the framework for discussing the power struggles between rural general practitioners and specialists, organizational changes in medical education, and the clinical narratives of high-technology oncologists. In their own words, practitioners, students, and academics describe what competence means to them and reveal their frustration with medical-legal institutions, malpractice, and the limitations of peer review and medical training.Less
What does it mean to be a good doctor in America today? How do such challenges as new biotechnologies, the threat of malpractice suits, and proposed health-care reform affect physicians' ability to provide quality care? These and many other questions are examined in this book, which fully explores the meaning and politics of competence in modern American medicine. Based on ethnographic studies of three distinct medical communities—physicians in rural California, academics and students involved in Harvard Medical School's innovative “New Pathway” curriculum, and oncologists working on breast cancer treatment—it demonstrates the centrality of the issue of competence throughout the medical world. Competence, the book shows, provides the framework for discussing the power struggles between rural general practitioners and specialists, organizational changes in medical education, and the clinical narratives of high-technology oncologists. In their own words, practitioners, students, and academics describe what competence means to them and reveal their frustration with medical-legal institutions, malpractice, and the limitations of peer review and medical training.
Mary-Jo DelVecchio Good
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520088962
- eISBN:
- 9780520922037
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520088962.003.0009
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
This chapter presents an ethnographic account with a recollection of the early debates about the New Pathway, thereby setting the stage for student experience. The ethnographic text grew out of a ...
More
This chapter presents an ethnographic account with a recollection of the early debates about the New Pathway, thereby setting the stage for student experience. The ethnographic text grew out of a study of curricular innovation at Harvard Medical School, initially known as the New Pathway. The discussion begins with the study in the second year of the experimental curriculum, when 38 of 160 students in the incoming class of 1990 were selected to pursue the New Pathway, noting that discourses on medical competence characterize moments of educational innovation. The New Pathway was promoted as committed to the ideals of improving relationships between patients and physicians, and experimental tutorials led by clinicians exposed students to early patient contact, training in clinical skills and psychosocial assessment, and discussions of critical issues in the patient-doctor relationship.Less
This chapter presents an ethnographic account with a recollection of the early debates about the New Pathway, thereby setting the stage for student experience. The ethnographic text grew out of a study of curricular innovation at Harvard Medical School, initially known as the New Pathway. The discussion begins with the study in the second year of the experimental curriculum, when 38 of 160 students in the incoming class of 1990 were selected to pursue the New Pathway, noting that discourses on medical competence characterize moments of educational innovation. The New Pathway was promoted as committed to the ideals of improving relationships between patients and physicians, and experimental tutorials led by clinicians exposed students to early patient contact, training in clinical skills and psychosocial assessment, and discussions of critical issues in the patient-doctor relationship.
Mark Somos
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198807025
- eISBN:
- 9780191844812
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198807025.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter presents an English translation of selected passages from John Warren’s Lectures on Anatomy, delivered between 1783 and 1812. Most of the lectures deal with technical aspects of anatomy, ...
More
This chapter presents an English translation of selected passages from John Warren’s Lectures on Anatomy, delivered between 1783 and 1812. Most of the lectures deal with technical aspects of anatomy, ranging from the structure and parts of the body through characteristics of bones and ligaments to making anatomical preparations. Here Warren offers valuable insights into American medical history and progress. The present selection focuses on the history and theory of anatomy that Warren taught as part of his course over the first three decades in the history of Harvard Medical School (HMS). Warren was one of the founders of HMS on September 19, 1782, with Aaron Dexter and Benjamin Waterhouse. He served as the school’s first Professor of Anatomy and Surgery.Less
This chapter presents an English translation of selected passages from John Warren’s Lectures on Anatomy, delivered between 1783 and 1812. Most of the lectures deal with technical aspects of anatomy, ranging from the structure and parts of the body through characteristics of bones and ligaments to making anatomical preparations. Here Warren offers valuable insights into American medical history and progress. The present selection focuses on the history and theory of anatomy that Warren taught as part of his course over the first three decades in the history of Harvard Medical School (HMS). Warren was one of the founders of HMS on September 19, 1782, with Aaron Dexter and Benjamin Waterhouse. He served as the school’s first Professor of Anatomy and Surgery.
Stefanos Geroulanos and Todd Meyers
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226556451
- eISBN:
- 9780226556628
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226556628.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
Chapter 5 tracks the work of Walter Cannon from the beginnings of his career when he pioneered the use of X-rays for the study of internal phenomena to the late 1920s when he developed the modern ...
More
Chapter 5 tracks the work of Walter Cannon from the beginnings of his career when he pioneered the use of X-rays for the study of internal phenomena to the late 1920s when he developed the modern concept of homeostasis. We show how Cannon moved from (a) identifying experimentally and epistemologically the mechanisms on which the digestive system was built to (b) theorizing the neurophysiological and pathological arrangement of the emotions, and eventually to (c) presenting the body as an integrated system that he called a “fluid matrix.” The digestive machine had given way to a hormonal and emotional whole and, later, to a homeostatic self. More than any of our other protagonists in this book, Cannon exemplifies the shift to a concept of the individual as brittle and constantly imperiled. “Our bodies,” he pronounced over and over in the 1930s, are “made of extraordinarily unstable material”; only organism-wide stabilization processes hold our bodies together.Less
Chapter 5 tracks the work of Walter Cannon from the beginnings of his career when he pioneered the use of X-rays for the study of internal phenomena to the late 1920s when he developed the modern concept of homeostasis. We show how Cannon moved from (a) identifying experimentally and epistemologically the mechanisms on which the digestive system was built to (b) theorizing the neurophysiological and pathological arrangement of the emotions, and eventually to (c) presenting the body as an integrated system that he called a “fluid matrix.” The digestive machine had given way to a hormonal and emotional whole and, later, to a homeostatic self. More than any of our other protagonists in this book, Cannon exemplifies the shift to a concept of the individual as brittle and constantly imperiled. “Our bodies,” he pronounced over and over in the 1930s, are “made of extraordinarily unstable material”; only organism-wide stabilization processes hold our bodies together.
