Complexity and integration. A philosophical analysis of how cancer complexity can be faced in the era of precision medicine

Complexity and integration are longstanding widely debated issues in philosophy of science and recent contributions have largely focused on biology and biomedicine. This paper specifically considers some methodological novelties in cancer research, motivated by various features of tumours as complex diseases, and shows how they encourage some rethinking of philosophical discourses on those topics. In particular, we discuss the integrative cluster approach, and analyse its potential in the epistemology of cancer. We suggest that, far from being the solution to tame cancer complexity, this approach offers a philosophically interesting new manner of considering integration, and show how it can help addressing the apparent contrast between a pluralistic and a unitary account

Introduction: COVID-19 Models and the Difficult Balance between Methods and Values

The article addresses some of the most urgent and pressing issues emerging from the pandemic, tackling them from both an epistemological and an epidemiological point of view, with a focus on different forms of modeling and the impacts they can have in the construction of a common understanding of the disease and its transmission

Introduction: COVID-19 Models and the Difficult Balance between Methods and Values

The COVID-19 pandemic had an unprecedented impact not only on the socio-economic and political conditions worldwide but also on the practices of the scientific community and on the public image of science itself. The scientific community suddenly found itself in the spotlight and was pressured to rapidly produce evidence applicable to the management of the present health crisis. This in turn had some unexpected consequences, among which an increase of the publication speed and sometimes a decrease of the quality of peer review (see e.g., Chan 2020). At the same time, the public discussion of scientific issues related to COVID-19 among an audience often lacking the appropriate knowledge of the characteristics of modern science (e.g., critical reasoning, hypothetical nature of research, the role of uncertainty, \u2026 ), was associated with the emergence of extreme stances in the population

Complexity and integration. A philosophical analysis of how cancer complexity can be faced in the era of precision medicine

Complexity and integration are longstanding widely debated issues in philosophy of science and recent contributions have largely focused on biology and biomedicine. This paper specifically considers some methodological novelties in cancer research, motivated by various features of tumours as complex diseases, and shows how they encourage some rethinking of philosophical discourses on those topics. In particular, we discuss the integrative cluster approach, and analyse its potential in the epistemology of cancer. We suggest that, far from being the solution to tame cancer complexity, this approach offers a philosophically interesting new manner of considering integration, and show how it can help addressing the apparent contrast between a pluralistic and a unitary account

Do medical schools teach medical humanities? Review of curricula in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom

Rationale and objectives: Medical humanities are becoming increasingly recognized as positively impacting medical education and medical practice. However, the extent of medical humanities teaching in medical schools is largely unknown. We reviewed medical school curricula in Canada, the UK and the US. We also explored the relationship between medical school ranking and the inclusion of medical humanities in the curricula. Methods: We searched the curriculum websites of all accredited medical schools in Canada, the UK and the US to check which medical humanities topics were taught, and whether they were mandatory or optional. We then noted rankings both by Times Higher Education and U.S. News and World Report and calculated the average rank. We formally explored whether there was an association between average medical school ranking and medical humanities offerings using Spearman's correlation and inverse variance weighting meta-analysis. Results: We identified 18 accredited medical school programmes in Canada, 41 in the UK, and 154 in the US. Of these, nine (56%) in Canada, 34 (73%) in the UK and 124 (80%) in the US offered at least one medical humanity that was not ethics. The most common medical humanities were medical humanities (unspecified), history, and literature (Canada); sociology and social medicine, medical humanities (unspecified), and art (UK); and medical humanities (unspecified), literature and history (US). Higher ranked medical schools appeared less likely to offer medical humanities. Conclusions: The extent and content of medical humanities offerings at accredited medical schools in Canada, the UK and the US varies, and there appears to be an inverse relationship between medical school quality and medical humanities offerings. Our analysis was limited by the data provided on the Universities' websites. Given the potential for medical humanities to improve medical education and medical practice, opportunities to reduce this variation should be exploited

Visione meccanicistica e visione manipolativa della causa: due prospettive a confronto

Dottorato di ricerca in filosofia. 12. ciclo. Tutore R. Festa. Cotutore M. C. Galavotti. Coordinatore E. MattioliConsiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Biblioteca Centrale - P.le Aldo Moro, 7, Rome; Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale - P.za Cavalleggeri, 1, Florence / CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle RichercheSIGLEITItal