Site • RSS • Apple PodcastsDescription (podcaster-provided):
For the deepest problems in healthcare, philosophy is the best medicine. In this podcast series, Jonathan Fuller, MD, PhD (University of Toronto) speaks to philosophers about their work on medicine and healthcare. You will hear from philosophers on the meaning and reality of disease, on their skeptical worries about evidence-based medicine, on current movements and controversies that shake medicine to its philosophical foundations. Visit our website at www.philosophersonmedicine.com.Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Philosophy of medicine • Health/disease concepts, realism • Disease causation, classification (DSM) • Evidence-based medicine, consensus • Clinical judgment • Public health uncertainty, COVID-19 • Race in epidemiology • Vaccine hesitancy, trust • Overdiagnosis • Delusions, pregnancy metaphysicsThis podcast features conversations between physician-philosopher Jonathan Fuller and philosophers who study medicine, healthcare, and the health sciences. Across the episodes, the show uses philosophical tools—conceptual analysis, epistemology, and social philosophy—to examine how medical knowledge is produced and how it should guide practice and policy.
A recurring focus is the nature of core medical concepts such as health, disease, and diagnosis. The discussions probe whether diseases are best understood as objective features of the world, partly dependent on human classification, or sometimes even candidates for “anti-realist” interpretations. Related topics include how definitions of disease shape real-world consequences such as screening thresholds and overdiagnosis, and how causal claims in medicine and epidemiology depend on conceptual choices about what counts as “the cause” in different contexts.
Another major theme is medical evidence and uncertainty. The show explores evidence-based medicine and its underlying assumptions about what counts as strong evidence, why certain study designs are privileged, and how research methods and social incentives can distort results or inflate confidence in interventions. From there, it considers the ongoing role of expert consensus in clinical and policy guidance, and how consensus can function not only as a summary of evidence but also as a tool for deliberation and coordination amid uncertainty.
The podcast also examines medicine’s relationship to the public and to social values. Topics include public trust, science communication, and vaccine hesitancy, emphasizing how disagreements can turn on values and interpretations of evidence rather than a simple “information deficit.” It similarly addresses the contested use of race in epidemiology and medicine, asking what racial categories represent, how they map onto biology and society, and what ethical and political stakes accompany their use.
Psychiatry and the philosophy of mind appear through analysis of psychiatric classification systems and phenomena such as delusions, connecting questions about rationality and explanation to clinical realities. The show also branches into metaphysical questions raised by medicine, such as how to understand pregnancy and the relationship between a pregnant person and fetus. Overall, the podcast surveys foundational controversies that influence research, clinical judgment, and public health decision-making.
| Episodes: |
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Philosophy of Medicine on COVID-19 2021-Aug-28 |
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Sean Valles - Race in epidemiology and medicine 2020-Jul-06 |
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Jacob Stegenga - Medical Nihilism 2020-Jun-01 |
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Miriam Solomon - Expert consensus in medicine 2020-May-04 |
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Alex Broadbent - The causes of disease 2020-Mar-02 |
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Evidence-based medicine 2020-Jan-06 |
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Mental disorders and the DSM 2019-Nov-12 |
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Marc Ereshefsky - Primer on health and disease 2019-Oct-06 |
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Clinical Judgment 2019-Sep-02 |
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Matthew Parrott - Delusions 2019-Aug-04 |
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Elselijn Kingma - Metaphysics of pregnancy 2019-Jul-07 |
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Mary Walker - Overdiagnosis and the definition of disease 2019-Jun-02 |
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Jeremy Simon - Are diseases real? 2019-May-05 |
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Maya Goldenberg - Vaccine hesitancy and public trust in healthcare 2019-Apr-06 |
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Miriam Solomon - Pick your medicine: evidence-based, narrative, or precision? 2019-Feb-23 |
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Alex Broadbent - What is medicine? 2019-Jan-27 |
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Philosophers on Medicine - A New Frontier 2019-Jan-27 |