Scientism vs humanism in medical education

Gregory A. Doran

Social Science & Medicine, 1983, vol. 17, issue 23, 1831-1835

Abstract: There is strong evidence to suggest that there is an ideological acceptance of science in the general community. This paper reviews some of the evidence to suggest that a form of scientism (i.e. the belief that only the current scientific method of the natural sciences can fruitfully be used in the pursuit of knowledge) has pervaded the practise of medicine and medical education. It argues for exposure of medical students to the humanistic growth-model of medicine and illness as well as the traditional disease-model. It is suggested also that the entrenchment of the disease model in medical education is a direct and inevitabale result of the entrenchment of scientific method in medicine, to the point where such method is ideologically accepted in medical practice.

Date: 1983
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