Review of Somogy Varga’s Science, Medicine, and the Aims of Inquiry: A Philosophical Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 2024)

Authors

  • Elisabetta Lalumera Department for Life Quality Studies, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Centre for Philosophy of Epidemiology, Medicine, and Public Health, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0345-0838

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/pom.2026.271

Keywords:

Aim of medicine, Autonomy, Pathologization, Medicalisation, Medical nihilism, Clinical understanding

References

Broadbent, Alex. 2018. “Prediction, Understanding, and Medicine.” Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 43, no. 3: 289–305. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmp/jhy003.

Carel, Havi. 2016. Phenomenology of Illness. Oxford University Press.

Charon, Rita. 2008. Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness. Oxford University Press.

Ioannidis, John P.A. 2005. “Why Most Published Research Findings Are False.” PLoS Medicine 2, no. 8, e124. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124.

Miller, Franklin G., and Howard Brody. 2001. “The Internal Morality of Medicine: An Evolutionary Perspective.” Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 26, no. 6: 581–599. https://doi.org/10.1076/jmep.26.6.581.2993.

Mol, Annemarie. 2002. The Body Multiple: Ontology in Medical Practice. Duke University Press.

Pellegrino, Edmund D., and David C. Thomasma. 1993. The Virtues in Medical Practice. Oxford University Press.

Stegenga, Jacob. 2018. Medical Nihilism. Oxford University Press.

Varga, Somogy. 2024. Science, Medicine, and the Aims of Inquiry: A Philosophical Analysis. Cambridge University Press.

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Published

2026-04-28

How to Cite

Lalumera, E. (2026). Review of Somogy Varga’s Science, Medicine, and the Aims of Inquiry: A Philosophical Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 2024). Philosophy of Medicine, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.5195/pom.2026.271

Issue

Section

Book Reviews