Health, Disease, and Causal Explanations in Medicine

Section I / On the Concepts of Health and Disease.- An Equilibrium Model of Health.- Comments on Pörn’s ‘An Equilibrium Model of Health’.- On the Circle of Health.- Comments on Nordenfelt’s ‘On the Circle of Health’.- Clinical Problems and the Concept of Disease.- Comments on Engelhardt’s ‘Clinical Problems and the Concept of Disease’.- Health and Disease from the Point of View of the Clinical Laboratory.- Section II / On Definition and Classification in Medicine.- A Critique of Essentialism in Medicine.- Comments on Jensen’s ‘A Critique of Essentialism in Medicine’.- Psychiatric Classification: The Status of So-Called “Diagnostic Criteria”.- Comments on Malmgren’s ‘Psychiatric Classification: The Status of So-Called “Diagnostic Criteria”’.- Section III / On Causal Thinking in Medicine.- A. Causal Analysis.- Criteria of Causal Association in Epidemiology.- Comments on Ahlbom’s ‘Criteria of Causal Association in Epidemiology’.- About Causation in Medicine: Some Shortcomings of a Probabilistic Account of Causal Explanations.- B. Causal Selection.- Models of Causation in Epidemiology.- On the Selection of Causes of Death: An Analysis of WHO’s Rules for Selection of the Underlying Cause of Death.- Disease from a Historical and Social Point of View: Some Remarks Based on the Needs of Preventive Medicine.- Comments on Larsen’s ‘Disease from a Historical and Social Point of View’.- The Causal Basis of the Current Disease Classification.- Comments on Wulff’s ‘The Causal Basis of the Current Disease Classification’.- What is a Genetic Disease? On the Relative Importance of Causes.- Comments on Hesslow’s ‘What is a Genetic Disease?’.- C. Causal Explanation.- A Pragmatic Concept of Causal Explanation.- Comments onSadegh-zadeh’s ‘A Pragmatic Concept of Causal Explanation’.- D. Other Topics on Causality.- Holistic Medicine as a Method of Causal Explanation, Treatment, and Prevention in Clinical Work: Obstacle or Opportunity for Development?.- Causes, Effects, and Side Effects: Choosing Between the Better and the Best.- Notes on the Philosophy of Medicine in Scandinavia.- Notes on Contributors.