HISTORY

How Scientists Explain Disease

Name: How Scientists Explain Disease
Brand: Princeton University Press
SKU: 9780691050836
Price: 6742.00 INR
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780691050836

HOW SCIENTISTS EXPLAIN DISEASE

Contributor(s): Thagard, Paul Author Format: Paperback

Paperback · ISBN 9780691050836

₹6,742

Inclusive of GST and other taxes

100% Quality Assurance

No Account Creation Required

Fast Delivery

Secured Transactions

Arriving at your doorstep in 10-15 days

Our logisitcs team will make sure everyitem is delivered safely

Key Specifications

ISBN	9780691050836
Subtitle	HOW SCIENTISTS EXPLAIN DISEASE
Publisher	Princeton University Press
Publication date	July 2000
Language	English
MRP	£48.00 GBP
Page count	284
Item weight	89 g

How do scientists develop new explanations of disease? How do those explanations become accepted as true? And how does medical diagnosis change when physicians are confronted with new scientific evidence? These are some of the questions that Paul Thagard pursues in this pathbreaking book that develops a new, integrative approach to the study of science.

Ranging through the history of medicine, from the Hippocratic theory of humors to modern explanations of Mad Cow Disease and chronic fatigue syndrome, Thagard analyzes the development and acceptance of scientific ideas. At the heart of the book is a case study of the recent dramatic shift in medical understanding of peptic ulcers, most of which are now believed to be caused by infection by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori. When this explanation was first proposed in 1983, it was greeted with intense skepticism by most medical experts, but it became widely accepted over the next decade. Thagard discusses the psychological processes of discovery and acceptance, the physical processes involving instruments and experiments, and the social processes of collaboration, communication, and consensus that brought about this transformation in medical knowledge.

How Scientists Explain Disease challenges both traditional philosophy of science, which has viewed science as largely a matter of logic, and contemporary science studies that view science as largely a matter of power. Drawing on theories of distributed computing and artificial intelligence, Paul Thagard develops new models that make sense of scientific change as a complex system of cognitive, social, and physical interactions.

This is a book that will appeal to all readers with an interest in the development of science and medicine. It combines an engaging style, significant research, and a powerfully original argument.

How Scientists Explain Disease

Key Specifications

Thagard, Paul Author

Related titles