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    Boorse's biostatistical theory and Nordenfelt's action-th... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Philosophers should investigate what kinds of things diseases are ontologically, rather than analyzing the concept of disease.

    Boorse's biostatistical theory and Nordenfelt's action-theoretic account show that competing ontologies of disease track competing normative commitments, not discoverable natural facts.

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    Key Terms

    Action-theoretic account(as a theory of disease)
    An approach to defining disease that focuses on whether someone can perform the actions and achieve the goals that are typical for humans.
    Biostatistical theory(as the main framework being described)
    A philosophical explanation of health and disease based on how organisms typically function in their species, measured through statistical patterns rather than subjective feelings.
    Boorse(as the creator of biostatistical theory)
    Christopher Boorse is a philosopher who created a specific theory about what counts as a disease or health problem based on how well an organism's parts work according to biological facts.
    Discoverable natural facts(as contrasted with normative commitments)
    Objective truths about the physical world that exist independently of what anyone believes or values—things we can simply find through observation.

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    Nordenfelt(as a key philosopher in philosophy of medicine)
    Lennart Nordenfelt, a philosopher who argued against Boorse's theory by showing that defining health and disease actually does require making value judgments, not just looking at biology.
    Ontologies(when incompatible, they create problems)
    Sets of assumptions about what kinds of things actually exist and how they're fundamentally different from each other (for example, whether something is a physical object, a thought, an energy, etc.).
    normative commitments(as used in philosophy of science)
    When a theory takes a stance on how things *should* be or what *ought* to happen, rather than just describing how things actually are.

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    2 topics

    Philosophy of Language1 linkedBioethics1 linked

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    Philosophers should investigate what kinds of things diseases are ontologically,...

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