The need for teaching philosophy in medical education

Theor Med. 1991 Dec;12(4):359-65. doi: 10.1007/BF00489894.

Abstract

The dearth of philosophical contributions to medicine has recently been discussed in a series of articles in this journal. The present article focuses on physicians' lack of training in philosophy as a part of the explanation of the scarcity of works in philosophy of medicine. In section I I outline two philosophy courses which would be reasonable additions to the medical school curriculum required of all medical students. In section II I suggest two other philosophy courses as electives in a medical education. All four courses are in the fields of epistemology and metaphysics, and so will help others see the relevance to medicine of philosophical fields other than ethics.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Curriculum*
  • Education, Medical*
  • Ethics, Medical
  • Philosophy, Medical*
  • Research
  • United States