The concept of disease in the time of COVID-19

Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 41 (5):203-221 (2020)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Philosophers of medicine have formulated different accounts of the concept of disease. Which concept of disease one assumes has implications for what conditions count as diseases and, by extension, who may be regarded as having a disease and for who may be accorded the social privileges and personal responsibilities associated with being sick. In this article, we consider an ideal diagnostic test for coronavirus disease 2019 infection with respect to four groups of people—positive and asymptomatic; positive and symptomatic; negative; and untested—and show how different concepts of disease impact on the disease and sickness judgements for these groups. The suggestion is that sickness judgements and social measures akin to those experienced during the current COVID-19 outbreak presuppose a concept of disease containing social harm as a component. We indicate the problems that arise when adopting this kind of disease concept beyond a state of emergency.

Similar books and articles

The social concept of disease.Juha Räikkä - 1996 - Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 17 (4).
The Social Concept of Disease.Juha Räikkä - 1996 - Theoretical Medicine: An International Journal for the Philosophy and Methodology of Medical Research and Practice 17 (4):353-361.
The concept of disease—vague, complex, or just indefinable?Bjørn Hofmann - 2010 - Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 13 (1):3-10.
The Geneticization of Diagnostics.William E. Stempsey - 2005 - Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 9 (2):193-200.
The Concept of Disease -- Vague, Complex, or Just Indefinable?Bjørn Hofmann - 2010 - Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy: A European Journal 13 (1):3-10.
“Disease Entity” as the Key Theoretical Concept of Medicine.Peter Hucklenbroich - 2014 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 39 (6):609-633.
How to Proceed in the Disease Concept Debate? A Pragmatic Approach.Leen De Vreese - 2017 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 42 (4):424-446.
The concept of disease.Joseph Margolis - 1976 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 1 (3):238-255.
Do we need a concept of disease?Germund Hesslow - 1993 - Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 14 (1).
How Cruel Is Disease?Antonio Casado da Rocha - 2005 - Appraisal: A Journal of Constructive and Post-Critical Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Studies 5 (3):141-143.
Do We Need a Concept of Disease?Germund Hesslow - 1993 - Theoretical Medicine: An International Journal for the Philosophy and Methodology of Medical Research and Practice 14 (1):1-14.
Disease, variety, disagreement, and typicality: Advantage Roschian Concepts?Neil Pickering - 2016 - Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 23 (1):17-31.

Analytics

Added to PP
2021-02-17

Downloads
213 (#86,669)

6 months
94 (#38,305)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author Profiles

M. Cristina Amoretti
Università degli Studi di Genova
Elisabetta Lalumera
University of Bologna

Citations of this work

Introduction to the Special Issue on Philosophy of Medicine.Saana Jukola & Anke Bueter - 2021 - European Journal of Analytic Philosophy 17 (2):(SI1)5-8.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Wittgenstein on rules and private language.Saul A. Kripke - 1982 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 173 (4):496-499.
Health as a theoretical concept.Christopher Boorse - 1977 - Philosophy of Science 44 (4):542-573.

View all 42 references / Add more references