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Bioethics & Medical Ethics

Can We Trust Medical Science?

Simon Kolstoe says that all is not well with medicine.

It is said that philosophy is driven by concerns about mortality. If there is even a small grain of truth in this, then from a purely self-interested perspective the philosopher has good reason to be supportive of the work of doctors and health scientists. After all, it is rather useful to have access to headache pills and other over-the-counter medicines to help clear the mind to think when sitting huddled in an armchair and suffering from a cold; and having paramedics on the end of a phone, and a well-equipped hospital at the end of the ambulance ride are particularly useful when more serious ailments strike. Philosophers are reliant upon modern medicine to stave off their demise at least long enough to have the chance to write about it.

We all rely on our doctors remaining up-to-date with new advances and prescribing them when our need arises.

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