Abstract
In this symposium, we philosophically investigate the nature of contemporary and historical versions of scientific medicine as well as visions for its future, drawing on historical, empirical and scientific perspectives. Scientific medicine is the main focus of research in philosophy of science and medicine, but the ways in which it is ‘scientific’ and the question of what sciences it derives its scientific character from (and how) are seldomly investigated by philosophers. In this symposium, we explore what makes scientific medicine a distinct (but disunified) historical tradition, the content of the unique understanding sought in scientific medicine, how data science is transforming scientific medicine’s hierarchy of evidence, how research on organoids in precision medicine challenges scientific medicine’s concepts of disease and evidence, and how philosophical work on scientific medicine squares with the reality experienced by practicing scientists and doctors.
